Ribbon-cutting at Krewstown Road Wawa

Wawa held the grand opening for store 8054 in the Krewstown Shopping Center Friday morning. This store is one of the 219 locations in Pennsylvania.

This Wawa took two years of planning, during which time the community gave its concerns. “Wawa has listened to those concerns and answered our questions,” said Jack O’Hara, president of the Greater Bustleton Civic League.

One such concern was where the employment for this store would come from. Chief People Officer Cathy Pulos addressed this in her opening comments at Friday’s ribbon-cutting, saying that the Krewstown Road location would employ “40 [new] associates, most of whom come from this immediate area.”

After the opening remarks Wawa employees participated in a small parade narrated by Pulos, which consisted of several show cards that illustated Wawa’s “long history in American business that goes back more than 200 years.” The cards showed Wawa from the days of a dairy delivery service in Philadelphia to the 623 convenience stores currently spread across six states.

Following the parade, police officers from 7th District went head-to-head with fire fighters from Engine 62 Ladder 34 in a hoagie-making contest. Wawa donated $1,000 to a charity chosen by each group — Fox Chase Champions and the Philadelphia Fire Fighters Widow’s fund, respectively.

After three minutes of frantic hoagie-building, in which rolls and lettuce were literally flying through the air, the fire department was declared the winner and Captain Fry accepted the trophy on its behalf.

 Shanice Richardson is a student reporting for Philadelphia Neighborhoods, the publication of Temple University’s Multimedia Urban Reporting Lab.