Sun Sentinel Broward Edition

New Wawa store opening Thursday in Fort Lauderdale

Latest location is on W. Broward Boulevard

- By Doreen Christense­n Staff writer

More Wawa stores Broward County.

The beloved convenienc­e store chain opened its third Broward store in Parkland on Oct. 5 and will dedicate another in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday.

The Fort Lauderdale store, at 2620 W. Broward Blvd., is scheduled to open at 8 a.m.

The new stores will employ about 40 full- and part-time employees each, the company said.

In Parkland, customers can expect free coffee through Oct. 15, cheap gas , and other tasty giveaways as the chain introduces South Florida customers to the Wawa way of doing business. Expect to try a variety of hoagies, soft pretzels, bacon mac and cheese and other food items.

The stores are about 5,500 square feet and have 16 gas pumps. Inside, customers can order sandwiches, salads, wraps, soups and sides from easyto-use, touch-screen computers.

South Florida stores feature large, walk-in coolers stocked with wine and beer, including local favorite Funky Buddha Floridian. There are fee-free ATMS, too.

The Philadelph­ia-based chain opened its first Broward locations in Davie and Pompano Beach on July 27 after three stores in Palm Beach County opened on the same day in March.

The privately held company, which enjoys a fanatical following similar to that enjoyed by Publix and Trader Joe’s, says it plans to have 50 South are opening in Florida locations five years.

So far, Wawa has more than 120 stores in Florida, and says it will open 500 over the next 10 years, bringing tens of thousands of jobs to the state. Wawa estimates about 2,000 new jobs have been created through new store openings in 2017.

“Opening our first locations in Broward County is a significan­t step toward furthering our ability to invest in Florida by building new stores and creating more jobs,” said Cathy Pulos in July.

She’s Wawa’s executive vice president and chief operations officer. up and running in

“We can’t wait to continue our Florida expansion and look forward to connecting with our homecoming customers and introducin­g ourselves to new customers throughout the rest of 2017.”

A Deerfield Beach store at Sample and Powerline roads will open on Nov. 9. A Margate location, at State Road 7 and Copans Road, and a Deerfield Beach store, on Hillsboro Boulevard just west of Interstate 95, will open simultaneo­usly on Dec. 14.

Connect with me: Facebook.com/DoreensDea­ls, Twitter.com/PrettyGood­Ideas or email dchristens­en@sunsentine­l.com.

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