Another Wawa!
Free coffee, gas discounts in Parkland
New store opens today in Parkland.
Wawa, the Pennsylvania-based gas station and convenience store chain with a cult following, is opening yet another South Florida store today — this time in Parkland.
The newest Wawa will open at 8 a.m. at 7705 N. State Road 7 at the intersection of Loxahatchee Road. In keeping with the chain’s custom, free coffee will be given away at the location for the first 10 days, through Oct. 15, and gas will be discounted for the first three days.
The Wawa chain has aggressively expanded its loyal fan base, once limited to the Mid-Atlantic region, into Florida with 126 stores built over the past five years and hundreds more planned during the next decade, including more than 40 new South Florida stores through 2021.
The chain, open around the clock seven days a week, is known for offering a wide variety of freshly made sandwiches, side dishes and drinks, including gourmet coffees, milkshakes and fruit smoothies, as well as housebranded and specialty-branded snacks.
Tuesday’s ceremony will mark the chain’s eighth grand opening this year in the tricounty region.
Another grand opening is set for Tuesday at 2620 W. Broward Blvd., in Fort Lauderdale.
The region’s first Wawas opened March 23 in Palm Springs and Riviera Beach. That was followed by openings in West Palm Beach and Greenacres.
In Broward County, Wawa stores in Pompano Beach and Davie opened on July 27.
Parkland Mayor Christine Hunshcofsky will be on hand for a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday beginning at 10 a.m., joined by members of the city’s police and fire departments, key Wawa executives and Wawa’s mascot Wally Goose.
Members of the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and Coral Springs Fire Department will compete to see who can build the most hoagie sandwiches in three minutes. Wawa will donate $1,000 to the charity of the winning team’s choice.
Wawa is expanding at a rocket’s pace in Florida as the chain makes good on its pledge to open 30 stores in the state this year, including 16 more before year’s end.
In addition to the Parkland and Fort Lauderdale locations, open-
ings are planned in South Florida this fall in two Deerfield Beach locations — the intersection of Southwest 12th Avenue and Hillsboro Boulevard and the corner of West Sample and North Powerline roads.
Another store is set to open in Margate at North State Road 7 and West Copans Road.
Locations are planned in Miami-Dade County, but a spokeswoman on Wednesday said she did not have information on opening dates.
Introduced in 1964 as outlets for the company’s
dairy business, Wawa stores were confined to the Mid-Atlantic region before the company expanded to Florida beginning with its first store in Orlando in July 2012.