Date Night at Wawa

Sometimes you forget that your pleasures are regional.  We don't have Publix or Piggly Wiggly up here in Pa.  Out near Harrisburg they have Sheetz convenience stores.  Here in Pennsylvania, we have Wawa.  When I first heard the name of the store, 40 years ago, I laughed.  What the heck was a Wawa?  It sounded like Snoopy's voice.  Not sure why the owner named it that but oh well.

Most convenience stores are horrendously expensive, have horrible food and dirty bathrooms.  Wawa's do not.  They started small, like a 7-11 but over the years, refined the atmosphere.  Although the food does cost more than a grocery store, it's not out of most people's league.  The sandwiches are reasonably priced and very good.  Hot drinks, delicious, well made.  The bathrooms are clean.  The buildings, while all the same structure, are designed to fit into any environment.

A mile from us used to stand Bally's gym.  It was a three story glass building with a huge parking lot, on the edge of the community park.  Totally out of tune with the neighborhood.  Nobody liked it.  Three years ago it went out of business and sat there, annoying everyone.  Then, a developer bought the land and we all sighed.  What kind of monstrosity was going up there now?

Surprise!  It was a Wawa!  It took a year of planning and building after six months of knocking down the Bally's building.  Everybody wondered if the store would be worse than what was there.  Would traffic be a nightmare?  How about Manhattan Bagel across the street?  Would they be put out of business?

David and I were sitting in the back room, reading, when he saw that Wawa had opened that day.  We were two excited senior citizens.  Wawa's habit is to offer free hot drinks for the first week.  I said, "why don't we go over now?"  Well that was a thought.  Who goes out for fun after ten?  We do!  And it was really fun!  The store is clean and bright, the manager stopped us and explained where everything was, I got a S'more hot chocolate and David his coffee.  On the way out, we met a friend who was also excitedly getting her coffee.  Traffic in and out was fine and a path led down into the park.

Welcome Wawa to Willow Grove!