OH: Wawa Plans to Expand in Ohio With 60 New Stores; First Groundbreaking in Mid-2024

Wawa, a privately held, family-owned chain of more than 1,000 convenience retail stores currently operating in six states and Washington, D.C., shared new details on its expansion into the state of Ohio for the first time during its two-stop Community Partnership Day Tour in the state last week.

Wawa’s expansion into Ohio includes plans to open approximately 60 stores across the region over the next 8-10 years with the first groundbreakings beginning in mid-2024. So far, Wawa has more than 16 sites under contract across Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Greene, Hamilton, Miami, Montgomery and Warren Counties. These projected stores are currently making their way through the permitting and approval process, and Wawa will announce specific locations and estimated timing for the first store openings in Ohio once these processes are complete. The first store locations are projected to open by mid-2025, with plans to open up to 10 locations that year, 10 additional stores in 2026 and five stores each year thereafter. Wawa teams continue to look for sites throughout the market.

Details on Wawa’s growth plans for the Ohio market were announced at two Community Partnership Day events on September 27 in Cincinnati at the American Red Cross headquarters and in Dayton at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. These events officially introduced Wawa to the community and allowed Wawa leaders to connect with hundreds of new friends, neighbors and VIP customers, as well as local officials and partners. In addition, attendees received a glimpse of new store design renderings and had the opportunity to hear about the Wawa story, Wawa’s unique offering and Wawa’s commitment to its new Midwest region communities, including new partnerships and community support of local organizations.

“We were thrilled to share our ‘flight plan’ for Ohio and reveal, for the very first time, our exciting expansion plans, renderings and more with our newest soon-to-be neighbors!” said Joe Collins, Director of Store Operations for Wawa. “Our Community Partnership Day events also gave us the opportunity to meet new community members and talk a little bit about our history and what makes Wawa such an ideal fit for communities in this region. We can’t wait to begin putting shovels into the ground next year! As we get closer to our grand openings in 2025, we will be sharing even more details on our growth in Ohio and connecting with more customers, communities, partners and nonprofit organizations that together make this such an incredible region to be a part of!”

At the Community Partnership Day events, Wawa also encouraged guests to enjoy a Taste of Wawa, including samples of freshly made hoagies, freshly brewed coffee and other handcrafted beverages as it debuted its new Wawa Community Care Beverage Vehicle. Altogether, Wawa distributed thousands of samples of Wawa strawberry smoothies and Wawa Dragon Fruit Refreshers, hundreds of cups of Wawa regular and flavored coffees, and hundreds of hoagie samples.

Finally, Wawa announced contributions to four regional community partners: The American Red Cross, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, the USO and The National Air Force Museum Foundation with contributions totaling more than $20,000.