Dive Brief:

• Wawa announced plans to open 60 stores in Indiana over the next eight to 10 years, according to Thursday press release. 
• As with similar announcements in Ohio and Kentucky earlier this week, the convenience retailer expects to break ground in the middle of next year. Once that happens, Wawa plans to open up to 10 stores per year in 2025 and 2026, followed by about five stores per year after that.
• Wawa has now revealed plans for 160 stores in those three states over the next decade — a key step toward its goal of reaching 1,800 stores by 2030.

Dive Insight:

So far, the convenience retailer has at least 16 Indiana locations under contract in Clark, Dearborn, Delaware, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Johnson, Madison, Marion and Wayne counties. At least one of these stores — in Noblesville in Hamilton County — has already been approved by the city’s common council.

Wawa will invest approximately $7 million and employ about 140 contractors and local partners per store. Each location is expected to employ 35 people.

The details came out at a community partnership event on Thursday at the National Collegiate Athletics Association Headquarters and Museum in Indianapolis, the last stop on Wawa’s three-day tour across Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. Wawa also plans to build 60 stores in Ohio and 40 in Kentucky.

This is not the first time this year Wawa has done a community outreach tour in areas where it’s looking to expand. In February, it held a two-day event to tout its plans for 40 stores in Alabama and the Florida panhandle. While it already has some stores in other parts of Florida, Alabama is another new state for Wawa.

It also has plans to enter North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee in the coming years. It already has at least four locations in various stages of approval in Tennessee.

Wawa currently operates more than 1,000 stores across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, Ohio and Washington, D.C.