Carol Johnson | Southern Indiana Business Report
Wawa, the Pennsylvania-based convenience store, may not be a familiar name in southern Indiana, but it’s about to be.
Construction of a store in Bedford is ramping up. A company spokesman said construction of the store at Fifth Street and Ind. 37, is expected to be completed this fall.
Wawa began its expansion into Indiana in 2025 opening stores in several cities, including Daleville, Brownsburg, Noblesville and Clarksville.
According to a company spokesperson, over the next 5 to 8 years, Wawa plans to build and open 8 to 13 stores per year in Indiana with plans to open more than 70 stores in the state. To build each store, Wawa will invest more than $7.5 million and employ, on average, 140 contractors and local partners. Once open, each store will employ an average of 35 associates.
The first Wawa Food Market opened in 1964 in Pennsylvania as an outlet for dairy products. Today, Wawa has 1,100 locations, offering freshly prepared foods, built-to-order hoagies, soft drinks, coffee, fuel services and surcharge-free ATMs. Wawa stores are located in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Washington, D.C.
What’s a Wawa?
In 1892, George Wood bought a house in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, near a train station. Nearby was a pond that was a gathering place for Canada geese. The area became known as Wawa, which is the Native American word for goose. When Wood began his dairy business in 1902, he named it after the local region. In the following years, there was less demand for home delivery of milk and in the 1960s Wawa Dairy became Wawa Food Markets.
Wawa quick facts
- Serves more than 1B customers a year
- Brews 182M cups of coffee a year
- Makes more than 183M hoagies and sandwiches a year
- Wawa stores are open 24/7, 365 days a year and employ 47,000 associates