Wawa's biggest Center City location to open at 19th and Market on Friday

Wawa's latest — and biggest — Center City location will open Friday.

Doors to the 1900 Market Street store open at 8 a.m., Wawa said. Grand opening festivities kick off at 10 a.m., and free coffee will be available all day.

At 7,000 square feet, the convenience store will be the biggest Wawa in Center City and the chain's largest shop that doesn't sell gasoline.

The will include 25 "bar" seats, the most of any Wawa, according to CBRE Group, Inc., the real-estate firm that brokered the lease. Wawa said the Market Street store will also include USB outlets so customers can charge phones and other devices.

The opening day celebration will include a hoagie-building competition between the Philadelphia Police and Fire Departments, remarks from Mayor Kenney and the announcement of $75,000 grant from the Wawa Foundation to Philabundance to aid the organization's backpack and "fresh for all" programs.

The shop is Wawa's second new store in Center City in just more than a year. Last September, a flagship store with seating opened at Broad and Walnut Streets.

The Delaware County-based chain is on an expansion kick, having opened dozens of new stores this year, with about half of the new shops located in Florida. In the Philadelphia region, a new store opened in Cheltenham last month and more additional locations are reportedly being planned for Center City.

However, Wawa has suggested it could curtail its Philadelphia expansion if the city adopts a series of proposed regulations on tobacco sellers.

The Philadelphia Business Journal reported Wednesday that the company's chief executive submitted comments to the city Health Department, saying that the regulations were unclear, would harm economic growth and could lead Wawa to stop opening stores in Philadelphia.