Wawa announces vast northern Virginia expansion

Wawa announced plans this week to open 40 stores in Northern Virginia over the next 15 years.

The first store in this expansion will be opening in April 2020 at 465 Maple Ave. in Vienna, in Fairfax County. The company also said there are three other stores in the county that will start construction in 2020, with plans to open two to three stores a year in the region. There are currently 87 Wawa stores in Virginia.

John Poplawski, Wawa’s senior director of real estate, said these openings are not tied to Amazon’s decision to build its second headquarters, HQ2, in Arlington, Va. The e-commerce giant is expected to draw tens of thousands of workers and their families to the area and home prices are already soaring.

Poplawski said Wawa has had a presence in Northern Virginia since the late 1990s.

The 40 planned stores in the Northern Virginia market are expected to bring 2,000 jobs. The new store will be 6,290 square feet with seating areas, and will have Tesla Charging Stations for up to eight cars, the company said.

Wawa, a private convenience-store chain much celebrated in the Philadelphia region, has been undergoing a massive expansion, with plans to open a record 63 stores this year.

Wawa has more stores in New Jersey (250) than in Pennsylvania (238 stores) and expects Florida’s store count to surpass each state in 2022. The company had a total of 869 stores, as of Wednesday.

Three stores will open Thursday: its fifth D.C. store in Adams Morgan; 53rd Maryland store in Eldersburg; and 197th Florida store in Belleview, according to Wawa.