Wawa Is Making Moves to Open in Georgia

Popular northeastern convenience store chain Wawa plans to open a location in Georgia by 2024. After finding success with new locations in Florida, the company announced Wednesday that Georgia is the next target for further expansion into the Southeast.

For Northeasterners now living in Georgia and Atlanta who miss those Wawa hoagies, Sizzlis breakfast sandwiches, and the chain’s coffee, this news couldn’t be more welcome.

“Expanding to Georgia is a natural extension from the Florida Panhandle, and we look forward to serving more communities along the East Coast,” John Poplawski, vice president of real estate for Wawa, says in a prepared statement.

The company didn’t offer up where these locations would open in Georgia, other than “southern and coastal” areas of the state, but indicated as many as 20 new stores could open around Georgia over the coming years. So, if Atlantans want a Wawa here, they better fill out this location suggestion form (and in droves.)

When locations do open in Georgia, wherever those may be, Wawa will have some stiff competition from beloved Southern roadside chains like QuikTrip and Buc-ee’s.

The first Wawa store opened in 1964 in Folsom, Pennsylvania. The company is headquartered just outside of Philadelphia and includes locations throughout the Northeast as well as in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, and Washington, D.C. Locations are also planned for North Carolina and Alabama.

Wawa

Wawa isn’t the only popular chain headed to Georgia and Atlanta. Texas-based burger chain Whataburger plans to open eight new restaurants in the state over the next two years. Tim Hortons franchisees Abid Khutliwala and Saleem Lakhani are bringing 15 locations of the Canadian-based coffee and sandwich chain to metro Atlanta and Columbus over the next five years. And Shipley Do-Nuts, another Texas-based chain, brings 60 varieties of doughnuts to Duluth soon. Another 30 Shipley locations are planned for Georgia, too.