Wawa Celebrates 50th Anniversary This Week

Mayor Nutter will declare Wednesday to be "Wawa Day" in Philly

CBS Philly reports that Wawa will celebrate its 50th anniversary on Wednesday at the company’s 17th  and Arch outpost, where CEO Chris Gheysens and Mayor Nutter will declare “Wawa Day” in the city.

The company says they serve 400 million customers a year, which may be hard to believe for those who were around for the very first store opening in Folsom on April 16, 1964.

“The original design was really as an outlet for the Wawa dairy products at store number one,” Gheysens said. Fast forward to today and customers are able to fill up their gas tanks, get that morning cup of coffee and tap on a touch screen to get their lunch or dinner for the day. It’s the idea of “casual comfortableness” that Gheysens says has them competing with otherconvenience stores, coffee shops and restaurants.

“I think the 50th for us is about thanking Philadelphia, thanking the customers in the Delaware Valley and really the six states we operate in,” he said. “We wouldn’t be here without how well and warmly embraced we’ve been.”

Recently, we’ve wondered whether Wawa is all that, noted that former Wawas still look like Wawas, pondered the poor design of their parking lots, and run Buzzfeed’s “15 Facts That Prove Wawa Is the Best. “