Wawa Closing Store No. 1 to Make Room for New Store

RIDLEY TOWNSHIP, Pa. – After 50 years in business, Wawa Inc. will close the first store it ever opened to make way for a nearby Super Wawa under development, according to a Delaware County Daily Times report. The original store's numerical designation will shift to its planned replacement store.

"It will still be store [No.] 1 for us, even though it's a new store," Susan Bratton, regional real estate manager for Wawa, said of the new location planned for the intersection of MacDade Boulevard and Kedron Avenue. The original Wawa No. 1 is located at the intersection of MacDade Boulevard and Swarthmore Avenue.

Construction of the four-acre site, which will feature six fuel islands, may begin during spring 2015. Wawa plans to open the new store by spring 2016. The company also hopes to include historic photography of the original store in the new location's décor.

"It's important that people know this is where we started," Bratton said.

Wawa does not own the land where its original store is located and has no say in what happens to the building. It does not plan to close any of the other four Wawa stores located in Ridley Township.

Some local customers expressed dismay at the impending closure of the store. "This store has been a staple here in the neighborhood," Denise Master told the news outlet. "I will definitely miss just walking across the street to the store. This is a bummer."