Wawa progressing; could open by end of the year

WILKES-BARRE TWP. — The new Wawa being built in Union Center Plaza along Route 309 in Wilkes-Barre Township is progressing, and officials say it could be open before Christmas — same goes for the new Aldi that is under construction on the property.

Tom Zedolik, Wilkes-Barre Township code enforecment and zoning officer, said he visited the site on Wednesday and he was impressed with the progress made on both project.

“They’re coming along nicely,” he said. “They both could be open by the end of the year.”

Zedolik also said the Cloud 10 Car Wash being built in the same plaza is also on schedule.

Lori Bruce, senior manager of media relations at Wawa Inc., said the Wawa will be a convenience store/gas station.

”As previously shared, we are projecting a late fourth quarter 2024 opening, but times can shift based on construction progress,” Bruce said. “We are happy to update you as progress takes shape, but it won’t likely be until closer to that time-frame. We look forward to serving the community.”

Bruce provided a store image rendering for Wawa lovers to see what the finished product will look like when completed. She said it takes, on average, about 140 contractors and local partners to build each Wawa store.

“Once open, each store will employ, on average, 35 new associates,” Bruce said.

She said Wawa is a family and associate-owned company with Wawa associates owning 39% of the company through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).

“We look forward to serving this community with our quality fresh food and beverages and, as always, our deep commitment to the communities in which we operate,” Bruce said. “As a privately held, family and associate-owned company, we are most excited to share our unique culture and store experience, which has resulted in family-like bonds with our associates, our customers and our communities.”

Wawa is also looking to locate in two other Luzerne County areas — Dallas Township and Plains Township.

The Dallas Township Zoning Board has approved all zoning issues for a Wawa for “Dallas Development Partners.” The store is to be built next to Tractor Supply on Route 309.

Regarding the Plains Township Wawa project, Jessica Ruddy, PennDOT spokesperson, said the developer and their engineer will prepare a traffic study for PennDOT to review.”

The proposed site is in Plains Township, near Mohegan Pennsylvania.

According to township officials, a new Wawa will be built near the intersection of East Main Street and Route 315 — across the street from a similar type chain, Sheetz.

Plains officials said the applicant for the project is Plains Development Partners, which is an arm of Summit Realty Advisors, LLC, of Ambler, Montgomery County.

That same company is also seeking to build the Wawa on Route 309 in Dallas Township near Tractor Supply.

A Wells Fargo bank branch sits at the corner of East Main Street and Route 315. Township officials said the plan is to build a Wawa that would wrap around the bank building and have access on both roadways.

The other location that had been proposed was on Market Street in Kingston, but that deal appears to have stalled.

Locally there are Wawa stores in Carbon and Monroe Counties — and reportedly one is planned for Scranton. A small, older format Wilkes-Barre store closed many years ago.

Wawa highlights:

• Serves more than 600 million customers annually.

• Brews over 195 million cups of its award-winning coffee each year.

• Builds more than 80 million built-to-order hoagies annually.

• 36,000 employees.

• Wawa Logo: “Wawa” is a native American word for the Canada goose that was found in the Delaware Valley, thus the use of the Canada goose on Wawa’s corporate logo.