Dive Brief:
- Wawa has announced plans to expand into Georgia in 2024 and potentially add up to 20 additional sites in the state, according to an emailed announcement Thursday.
- Wawa’s move to Georgia comes on the heels of its September announcement to expand to Alabama, where it plans to open stores in 2024.
- This continues a busy summer for c-store chains moving into new markets as many look to bring their services to a new set of customers.
Dive Insight:
In April, Wawa revealed plans to expand to Alabama and the Florida Panhandle region in 2024 and to open 54 new stores this year. The move to Georgia is a “natural extension” from the Florida Panhandle, said John Poplawski, VP of real estate for Wawa.
“We look forward to serving more communities along the East Coast,” he said in the press release.
Wawa did not disclose where in Georgia its first store in the state will be located, only that the expansion will be in the southern and coastal parts of the state.
Wawa is currently experiencing “the most aggressive growth” in its history and plans to nearly double its store count to about 1,800 locations by 2030, Chris Gheysens, CEO of Wawa, told the Philadelphia Business Journal earlier this year.
In June, Wawa disclosed plans to open a store in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2025 — its first location in the state, which may have up to 40 locations in the future, the company said at the time. Just weeks after that, Wawa announced plans to expand its footprint in Central Pennsylvania along the Susquehanna River.
Numerous c-store chains this summer have announced significant expansion activity, with several major players pushing into new states and metropolitan areas. Besides Wawa, both QuikTrip and Kwik Trip announced stores in new territories — the former in Colorado and the Chicago area, the latter in Michigan. Royal Farms also outlined its first store in Michigan, while Buc-ee’s announced its first store in Missouri.
