4 Ways Wawa Culture in Pennsylvania Differs From Other States It’s In

Ask someone who grew up near Philadelphia what Wawa means to them, and settle in for a long answer.

The same question in a state where Wawa just arrived usually gets a shrug.

These are the ways Wawa culture differs from other states it’s in.

1. Calling It a Hoagie

The word “hoagie” itself started in Pennsylvania, and Wawa never had to talk anyone into using it.

As the story goes, Philadelphia shipyard workers built the name by piling cold cuts onto long rolls near Hog Island during World War I and calling the result a “hoggie.”

Historians still argue about whether that’s how it happened, since the word doesn’t turn up in print until 1943, decades after World War I ended.

That’s still what a Wawa sandwich is called from Erie to Philadelphia.

Not every Wawa state agrees the sandwich is even called a hoagie.

A romance novelist found that out this year when she wrote a character ordering a “Wawa sub” in Baltimore.

The reaction from Pennsylvania readers went viral within a day.

Many Baltimore shoppers still call it a sub, even standing inside a Wawa.

It’s not a mistake.

That’s just a different Wawa state.

2. Pumping Your Own Gas

Pennsylvania drivers pull up to a Wawa pump on Route 1 or the Pennsylvania Turnpike, swipe a card, and start fueling themselves.

Nobody asks permission.

Drive about twenty minutes north into New Jersey, and that changes at the pump.

Every Wawa location there still sends an employee out to run the nozzle since New Jersey remains the only state in the country that legally bans self-serve gas.

The rule dates back to 1949, decades before Wawa ever sold a drop of fuel.

New Jersey lawmakers have floated bills to end the ban more than once.

Every one of those bills has stalled.

It’s the same brand and the same pumps on both sides of the Delaware River.

The errand looks completely different depending on which side you’re standing on.

3. Living the Sheetz Rivalry

Wawa answers to a hometown rival in Pennsylvania that many of its other states never have to face: Sheetz.

Sheetz was born in Altoona and built more than 310 stores across the western half of the state, while Wawa held onto the east.

Locals pick a side early.

Some don't budge for a lifetime.

Sheetz doesn't operate a single store in New Jersey, Florida, or Washington, D.C., so Wawa customers there never have to pick a side at all.

In Pennsylvania, picking a favorite convenience store means picking a side.

4. Sponsoring Philadelphia's Fourth

Philadelphia's Fourth of July celebration has carried Wawa's name since 2010, longer than the chain has sponsored anything else it operates.

The festival, Wawa Welcome America, stretches the Fourth of July into a multi-week run of concerts, museum days, and fireworks over the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

Many Pennsylvanians show up for some part of it every single year.

Wawa's sponsorship may not continue in its current form.

The city rebranded this year's Fourth of July concert under a separate "One Philly" banner, and neither Wawa nor the city has said whether the change is permanent.

Wawa customers in Orlando or Newark never had a Wawa-branded fireworks show to lose in the first place.

They just get a Wawa.

Where Wawa's Story Started

Every part of Wawa's origin sits inside one small stretch of Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

George Wood turned a local farm into the Wawa Dairy Farm in 1902, decades before anyone there sold a hoagie.

The first Wawa Food Market opened nearby in Folsom in 1964.

Wawa still runs its headquarters out of Chester Heights, a few miles from both sites.

There's an actual town called Wawa in Delaware County, too, the one the whole chain is named for.

Nowhere else Wawa operates has a town, a farm, and a headquarters to point to.

Everywhere else, it's just a name on a sign.

Nowhere else is home.

Store Counts Flip the Script

Wawa's Pennsylvania pride runs into an inconvenient number these days.

Florida now counts 304 Wawa stores, more than New Jersey's 293 and well past Pennsylvania's 263.

Pennsylvania started the chain.

It just doesn't have the most Wawas anymore.

Florida's Wawa count is growing faster than Pennsylvania's.

Growing Well Beyond Pennsylvania

Wawa's next hundred stores look a lot less like Pennsylvania than its first hundred did.

The chain is pushing into seven new states: Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina.

Some of those new stores already carry pizza ovens to compete with chains Pennsylvania customers have never had to think about.

Pennsylvania still holds Wawa's headquarters and its full history.

The next wave of Wawa customers may never set foot in the state at all.

That's new territory for Wawa.