Wawa celebrates grand opening of new Rehoboth store June 10
Wawa Inc. has announced the grand opening of its new Rehoboth store, located at 30155 Veterans Way. The celebration will include exciting fanfare, a charitable hoagie building competition between members of the Delaware State Police and the Rehoboth Beach Volunteer Fire Company and free coffee through Sunday, June 19.
The grand opening of this store marks the 12th store to open in 2016. This is the second to open in Sussex County and the 43rd store to open in the state of Delaware. Throughout the year, Wawa plans to bring the Wawa experience to more communities than ever before, opening 47 new stores throughout its operating area, including 22 in the Mid-Atlantic market and 25 in the Florida market. Wawa will also be remodeling 75 of its older legacy stores, bringing the most current Wawa experience to more customers throughout its six-state operating area.
Through each of the grand opening celebrations this year, Wawa will donate a total of $100,000 to charities selected by local police, fire firefighters and emergency responders at the culmination of the year, as a result of its Hoagies for Heroes’ hoagie building competition.
“So many new and existing communities ask us to open a new Wawa to their community, so we are thrilled to be able to answer this call, and bring our unique brand of convenience and our latest store design and offerings to more customers than ever before,” said John Poplawski, director of real estate for Wawa Inc. “Our grand opening celebrations are a wonderful way to celebrate with our community partners and new customers, and share the message that from day one, we will be here for our customers around the clock, working to fulfill their lives, every day.”
On Friday, June 10, the new store will open to the public at 8 a.m. with the grand opening ceremony beginning promptly at 10 a.m. The festivities will include a parade of Wawa’s milestones, local representatives, members of the local police and fire departments; Wawa General Manager Darin Burgoyne; Wawa Area Manager Amanda Wynne; Wawa Director of Store Operations John Sharpless; Wawa associates and customers; and Wawa’s mascot, Wally Goose, who will all join together for a ceremonial ribbon cutting and ceremony celebrating the many ways Wawa seeks to fulfill lives every day.
The grand opening event will conclude with a Hoagies for Heroes, hoagie building competition, as the Delaware State Police and Rehoboth Beach Volunteer Fire Company face off in a battle of bravery, skill, and sandwich-making expertise. Each team will be challenged to see who can build the most hoagies in three minutes in the traditional Wawa way. Wawa will conclude the Hoagies for Heroes competitions by presenting checks on behalf of the winning and runner up teams, for $1,000 to the charities of their choice.
Wawa’s new Rehoboth store features 4,670 square feet of retail space, additional gasoline facility, as well as new in-store graphics, colors, restroom design, and merchandising features and large expanded windows providing a clear view inside of the new design.
Darin Burgoyne will serve as general manager of the store, leading a team of nearly 45 associates, all of whom are new positions brought to the area through the development of the store. Associates in these full- and part-time positions will not only receive competitive salaries and health benefits, but once eligible, will participate in Wawa’s employee stock ownership plan.
Wawa associates own more than 41 percent of Wawa through the ESOP. The new Wawa store will offer customers numerous Wawa brands, such as the award-winning Wawa coffee (195 million cups sold annually); the Sizzliä, Wawa’s hot breakfast sandwich; Wawa’s new line of specialty beverages (hot, cold, iced and frozen); Wawa Bakery; Wawa’s built-to-order hoagies (80 million sold annually); and Wawa’s beverage line of dairy products, juices and teas.
