Wawa celebrates a singing customer and Central Pa. expansion plans for its 60th anniversary

Some people go to Wawa to fuel up their cars, but Pastor Marlon Jones goes to fuel his soul.

Every morning when Jones walks into his Wawa on South Valley Forge Road in Lansdale, he serenades the entire store with the theme song from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.

“He steps in the door — no matter how busy the store is, no matter how many customers are scattered around — and he starts singing ‘It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood’ and then he says ‘Good morning, my Wawa family!’” said store manager Gabby Conicello.

Jones then greets each associate by name and introduces himself to any customers at the coffee island he hasn’t met yet.

“It’s almost like Cheers. When I come in, I’m chatting with the customers, the vendors, some construction workers in the area,” Jones said. “We’re talking, we’re laughing, high-fiving, shaking hands, and hugging each other.”

Marlon, 47, a married father of four and pastor of New Fellowship Church in Southwest Philly, said other places don’t get him; he’s a little too much for some people. But ever since he started coming to this Wawa in 2021, he’s felt at home.

“I’m always looking for a place to belong,” Jones said. “That Wawa has embraced me in all of my quirkiness and craziness. I feel like I can be free there. It is a safe space.”

On Tuesday, Wawa celebrated the 60th anniversary of the opening of its first store in Folsom, Delaware County, by honoring “Day Brightener” customers like Jones at each of the chain’s more than 1,000 stores nationwide. Three of those Wawa superfans, including Jones, were also feted at a Wawa Day celebration at the chain’s flagship store at Sixth and Chestnut Streets in Center City.

The flagship store — like each throughout the chain on this Wawa Day — gave away free coffee in retro ‘60s Wawa cups and wrapped its hoagies in ‘60s-themed paper. A three-piece band played songs like “Dancing in the Street” and “Wawa Day is Here Again” as staff, customers, and Wawa’s mascots — Wally Goose and Shorti Hoagie — cut a rug in the aisles. Philadelphians who just came in for their free cup of coffee joined in on the early-morning dance party, as Philadelphians do.

Former NFL and Penn State football player Devon Still honored the “Day Brightener” customers including Jones; Maryann Tomasello, who bakes a tray of brownies for the staff at her West Berlin Wawa every week; and Danielle and John Heidrick, whose four kids all worked at their Wawa in Horsham growing up.

Later, guests attended the unveiling of a Wawa exhibit in the lobby of the National Constitution Center, which remains on display until Sunday and features retractable banners detailing major events in Wawa history, like the addition of fuel pumps in 1996 and the debut of touch-screens in 2000.

Wawa covered admission for everyone to the National Constitution Center on Tuesday and about 1,000 Philadelphia School District students were treated to Wawa kids meals and a hip-hop dance performance by Project Positive.

City representative Jazelle Jones read a proclamation from Mayor Cherelle L. Parker declaring April 16, 2024, to be Wawa Day. Later in the morning, Still and positive psychologists from the University of Pennsylvania gave a talk on the science behind the connections that happen at Wawa stores.

Jones knows those Wawa connections well. Sure, he stops in to get a pack of peanut-butter-and-cheese crackers and a 24-ounce coffee every morning (”anything less than that would be sacrilegious”), but he really goes in for the people.

“I choose places to plant love, acceptance, and inclusion because I’m in a position to affect change in the places I’m going to regularly,” he said. “You get a chance to plant flowers and come back and see how what you’ve planted is blooming.”

Just last month, Jones experienced the blossoms of what he’s planted when the staff and customers of his Lansdale Wawa gathered around him to sing “Happy Birthday” on his big day.

“He’s got this contagious, positive energy. It’s what we strive for as a company but having it reciprocated on the customer end is amazing,” Conicello said.

Wawa Day was first marked 10 years ago and in the decade since, the company has opened its largest store (the 11,000-square-foot flagship branch next to Independence Hall), and its smallest (the 3,000-square-footer at 16th and Chestnut). It’s also debuted several drive-through locations, an all-digital store in University City, and (finally) a store that sells beer within city limits.

But Wawa is closing some Philly stores too. The chain has shuttered six branches in Center City since 2020, with safety and security challenges cited in at least two of the closures (a seventh store is closing this year, but not by Wawa’s choice).

Meanwhile, it continues to grow its footprint nationwide and across Pennsylvania. Ten years ago, there were 650 Wawas in six states, now there are about 1,040 stores with Wawas planned in seven new states, from Alabama (opening April 25) to Indiana (projected opening mid-2025).

But Wawa president Brian Schaller said the company doesn’t have national plans yet.

“I think it’s a regional company that’s getting to be a bigger, regional company,” he said. “I’d say east of the Mississippi is kind of how I think about it.”

On Wednesday at the Pennsylvania Capitol building in Harrisburg, Wawa will also announce expansion plans for Central Pennsylvania, stepping into what was once firmly Sheetz territory (no word yet on whether Sheetz stans are mustering an MTO brigade to battle the expansion, or if Wawa fans are preparing a Sizzli squadron for a counter attack).

“There’s a lot, obviously, that we both enjoy reading about Wawa vs. Sheetz, but we have a tremendous respect for Sheetz,” Schaller said. “I think Wawa and Sheetz do it differently, which offers the customer variety, frankly.”

Schaller said right now, Wawa is looking to expand into Dauphin, York, Lycoming, and Northumberland Counties.

“We’ll go to the middle of the state and then State College is in our sights,” he said.

While the days of Southeast Pennsylvania claiming Wawa as “ours” may be waning, fans like Jones aren’t worried. There’s only one Wawa that really matters to him — his — and he hopes more people find “their” Wawa too.

“The more the merrier,” he said.

And Schaller promised that wherever Wawa goes, a hoagie will never be called a sub within its walls.

“We remain Philly proud and we, of course, will continue our part championing the hoagie,” he said.