By: Cos
All I can say is: FINALLY!
I can remember as far back as freshmen year when I called Wawa “just another 7-Eleven” and I was told by my roommate Chris to “take it back!” Wawa seems to be a religious and emotional place in South Jersey, I mean there are enough of them that you’d think they could be a church…I’d even think that there are more of them per square mile then there are churches in South Jersey…but, I’m just happy that as of November I can go to one whenever I damn well want to!
from NJ.com:
Wawa’s Parsippany store will be its northern-most location
Published: Monday, June 14, 2010, 5:14 PM Â Â Â Updated: Monday, June 14, 2010, 9:20 PM
PARSIPPANY — Wawa Food Market — known for its coffee, computerized deli counters and custom-made hoagies — is making its way to northern New Jersey.
The Philadelphia-area convenience store chain is building a convenience store and gas station in Parsippany, a company spokeswoman confirmed yesterday.
Spokeswoman Lori Bruce said the Parsippany store, on New Road near the Route 280 exit, should open in November.
The store will be the the northern-most Wawa in the state. Other Wawa stores include those in Phillipsburg, North Brunswick and Somerset County’s Branchburg Township.
The top portion of the state has long been considered the turf of 7-Eleven and Quick Chek. Wawa stores, meanwhile, have spread throughout central and southern New Jersey.
Bruce did not say if more stores are planned for the northern counties.
Wawa stores can also be found in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.
The popularity of Wawa has surged in recent years. The convenience stores have inspired Internet blogs, Facebook pages and fan groups.
Parsippany Area Chamber of Commerce director Robert Peluso said the new location on New and Edwards roads was a natural fit for Wawa, since it was close to routes 80 and 280.
The site was originally supposed to be the home of a BP gas station, which had been approved almost a decade ago, Parsippany zoning board chairman Robert Iracane said. The project fell apart, he said, and Wawa proposed a station on the property.
Peluso said construction on the site started last month, about three years after Wawa received the township’s approval to change BP’s plans for the site.
What wasn’t clear yesterday was whether there will be other Wawas in the upper reaches of the state.
Jeff Lenard, spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores, said it could be possible.
Wawa is one of the most wanted convenience store chains, he said, and the large amount of people in the area is hard to ignore.
“They do so many things well,†Lenard said of Wawa. “It wouldn’t surprise me if they go into the bigger market of northern New Jersey.â€