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The Wawaverse
Posted by Foobooz on August 1st, 2011
Read how our homegrown Wawa has gone from cult favorite to super power.
It’s a Wawa World [Philadelphia Magazine]
Related Tags: Infographic, Wawa
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Posted by Foobooz on August 1st, 2011
Read how our homegrown Wawa has gone from cult favorite to super power.
It’s a Wawa World [Philadelphia Magazine]
Related Tags: Infographic, Wawa
August 1st, 2011 at 12:33 pm
You might want to check those numbers…5.89 billion in sales in 2009? That means the each store averages over 10m in sales and customers spend an average of $15,000 per year at wawa?
August 1st, 2011 at 12:48 pm
But Wawa has abandoned many of its older smaller stores, particularly in Philadelphia and other regional downtowns, in favor of vapid sprawl and megastores.
August 1st, 2011 at 1:18 pm
Mike, what does that even mean? Did I abandon a room with no air for a room with oxygen? They weren’t making money in the city because of either high rates or citizens who didn’t want them enough to spend their money on them.
August 1st, 2011 at 1:33 pm
@CP no, that’s probably all my fault. I think I spend about $432,000 per month on Wawa Iced Tea.
August 1st, 2011 at 1:45 pm
No longer a fan. The folksy, homespun aura that was wawa, has been replaced by profit driven outsiders to the original Woods family ideals. I no longer drop a $20 on a daily basis. I’ll drive out of my to avoid. My final straw was the ruining of the coffee product. It is truly awful now. No longer fresh & dependable…Those new canister dispensers are terrible, serving a bad product.
August 1st, 2011 at 1:56 pm
I agree. I just don’t get the mythology behind these OK convenience stores. Standard stuff with marginally edible prepared foods. The coffee is ridiculously watery, but that is the preferred cup for the legion of Dunkin Donuts fans we have in this city. The free ATMs are nice and, depending on management, they are often a little cleaner than 7-11. Certainly no cause to go out of your way for the brand.
August 1st, 2011 at 2:37 pm
Those vapid sprawl mini mart WAWA’s always have the cheapest gas. Maybe they could open one of those down town?
August 1st, 2011 at 3:21 pm
I prefer Sheetz to Wawa they have nicer stores and better food.
August 1st, 2011 at 4:09 pm
There is a massive typo in the chart. It would be impossible if they only served 400,000 customers a year. With 587 store, that works out to be less than two customers a day per store?
August 1st, 2011 at 5:30 pm
When you are traveling, and don’t want to really stop, Wawas are a godsend. Reasonably clean bathrooms and food that is more than chips and stale granola bars. The Wawa symbol on a highway exit sign is a good thing! And, growing up in central PA, I have a place in my heart for Sheetz as well.
August 1st, 2011 at 6:04 pm
That 400,000 number makes zero sense.
At 5.89 billion dollars in sales, that would mean each customer spent $14,725, or $40 a day every single day.
At 17,000 employees, that would mean that each employee only saw 24 customers in the space of an entire year. Even if you assume that only a quarter of the employees work at a till, that means each till employee only served 94 people. All year. Really?
You’ll get an equally silly number if you add up all the doughnuts etc on a per capita basis.
Basically, check your spreadsheet.
August 2nd, 2011 at 12:53 am
if it weren’t for nearly every fast casual/ takeout place in center city closing too early wawa would have a little competition. i don’t always like eating wawa at 2 or 3 a.m. but when I’m hungry and the choices are limited i usually give in
August 2nd, 2011 at 9:52 am
400,000 per day would be closer, but with 590 stores, that figure still seems like it might be low. About 680 people a day? I figure most Wawas do well over 1000 people per day.
August 2nd, 2011 at 9:54 am
Or maybe each store serves 400K customers per year.
August 2nd, 2011 at 10:01 am
Used to love Wawa, but Old Nelson is actually a lot better in just about every respect.
August 2nd, 2011 at 10:06 am
Is the CEO of WaWa still Dick Wood? Best name ever.
August 2nd, 2011 at 10:15 am
Jay – “lack of oxygen” really? The city stores they abandoned were high volume stores in center city. It wasn’t a lack of sales, it’s just yet another short-sighted decision not to do business if they can’t do deliveries with an 18-wheeler.
August 2nd, 2011 at 10:26 am
I’ve been trying to figure out that 400,000 number myself. We got the numbers directly from Wawa and are trying to figure out exactly what that number means.
August 2nd, 2011 at 10:46 am
@barryG The one things tilts the scale to Wawa in my mind is the free ATMs. It ends up being a huge draw. I used to love Wawa hoagies alot more than I currently do as well. Certainly there are better delis out there, but none more popular.
@kbor Dick Wood’s Chairman of the board of directors now, not CEO.
A little while back, I heard some noise about them going public and possibly using the proceeds to purchase a regional gas station chain like a Sunoco. I fear that would be their “jump the shark” moment.
August 2nd, 2011 at 1:08 pm
Dick Woods (married to daughter of Former Gov. DuPont daughter)is no longer running the operation on a daily basis, the new CEO is the first NON family member to be in charge…Howard B.Stoeckel has been CEO since 2005.
After his appointment, wawa made the decision to no longer open any “stand alone” stores…All new stores will have the gas pumping feature.
Rumor on the streets is they are ready to expand into a new market…Via market research, the company determined the ideal location for expansion to be….Tampa FL.
August 3rd, 2011 at 4:54 pm
Yeah, I don’t get why we always crow so much about wawa. They’re fine, but they basically have no presence in the city anymore.
October 26th, 2011 at 2:31 pm
I love Wawa and it’s super cool that they are innovators in convenience and that they have built a sought after brand, but I see a lot of folks on here have noticed that Wawa has left Center City. Whether or not the departure was justified, it bums me out, so I made a funny little video about it, with some friends. Dig it:
The Vanishing Center City Wawa. I’d love to know what you think!