Wawa's First Florida Store Set to Open

In the winter, announced its plans to expand to Florida and the first of those stores is scheduled to open this week.

Wawa's official Florida grand opening countdown clock has just hours left on it as Store 5101, on Central Florida Parkway in Orlando, directly across from Sea World, is expected to open on July 18.

The and has stayed on schedule for its July opening.

Along with Store 5101, Wawa is on target to open five stores in five weeks in Orlando and Kissimmee this summer and then stores in Pinellas Park, Port Richey and Tampa are expected later, according to the Wawa website.

During each grand opening event, Wawa will invite local officials, heroes and community members to celebrate in the festivities, sample Wawa products and learn about Wawa’s expected economic and community impact, according to a Wawa press release.

“We can’t wait to open our doors to our new Florida family, and are excitedly to quickly enter the Greater Orlando area and begin offering our new customers our unique brand of appetizing convenience,” said Howard Stoeckel, Wawa CEO, in a press release. “As each location opens, we will further solidify our commitment to filling a void in our new Florida customer’s lives, providing them with a level of convenience and appetite appeal our customers have come to rely on us for.”

Wawa will open six stores in Orlando in 2012, and begin to open its first stores in Tampa in 2013. Throughout the Orlando/Tampa markets, Wawa plans to open 20 stores in 2013, 25 stores in 2014 and 25 stores in 2015, and projects they will open 100 stores in the Orlando/Tampa markets in the next five years, according to a Wawa press release.

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