Talk:Wawa (company)/Archive 1

This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

Archive 1

Shouldn't that section be moved to Wawa? Its connection with Wawa Food Markets is tenuous at best, and relies basically on sharing a name and corporate logo. The two have no real association as far as I can tell. Dcandeto 05:44, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Moved to Water Authority of Western Australia with link from Wawa. dml 08:35, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

To demonstrate both the value of Wawa to Delaware Valley residents and its "local phenomena" quality I would like to say that those of us who, perhaps foolishly, have moved away from Philadelphia, joke about starting Wawa support groups. Of course there is an anecdotal quality to this, but it illustrates a significance not normally associated with convenience stores, that, in reality, exists."

I dont know what anyone else thinks but i am just going to remove the section. First off what the hell is it supposed to mean in the first place. This is about a company not a nation. Just seems to be someones attempt at a joke, ans i stress attempt. --Boothy443 | trácht ar 06:40, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

I don't know if it's just at local stores here in Northern Virginia and the Northern Neck of Virginia, but I have noticed that Wawa seems to give a higher priority to healthier foods. To run in and grab ANY snack, it would be easiest to grab carrots and celery or yogurt than to search for their candy rack or grab some beef jerky. Don't know how important this might be, but as a society (the U.S.) noted around the world for our maligned fast-food and obesity, I think Wawa has done a great job of attempting to affect our way of thinking of what would constitute a snack. Should this be noted, or is it just extraneous?--Asacan 16:46, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

Could be a locational thing. I haven't noticed the Wawas here giving any priority to healthy food; but then again, I'm usually only there to nab an emergency gallon of milk. --Xanzzibar 08:12, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

I work for Wawa, and the reason those "Healthier snacks" are so prominent, is that is our "Express Case", where we put fresh foods from the Wawa Dairies. They're placed centrally in the store so they are sold faster.

Hey - you guys remember Hoagie Time? Those were the days! I only wish I had gotten myself a Hoagie Time t-shirt when I had the chance. Dslawe 13:42, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

I don't know, maybe I'm just picky, but the writing just seems not up to snuff for an encyclopedia, and in fact presents a lot of opinions as facts. My favorite:

"Past and present residents of the Philadelphia region often rave about the Wawa Hoagies and its own brand of flavored iced tea. Most current residents depend on Wawa stores for their milk and other dairy products."

I live in Philly and I in fact rely on ShopRite for my milk, and I only know of one person who shops at Wawa for his food. I think the article would read better if it were reworded and reworked... for example, stating that Wawa offers a large selection of sandwich, deli, and dairy products would be better than making the sweeping claim that most Philadelphians buy their milk at Wawa. Just my two cents. --MUSpud2 06:28, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

I just went ahead and deleted that section. It didn't really offer anything that anyone could substantiate (outside of anecdotes), and I doubt that "most" people around here depend on Wawa for milk (personally, I get mine at the supermarket unless I run out of milk and stop off at Wawa for a gallon instead of hitting up the supermarket for just that). --Xanzzibar 00:04, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

I think the main problem with the article is that it presents Wawa as some sort of a cultural phenomenon. I used to work at one, and while I'd still consider it to be an above average convenience store, and there's certainly nothing like it in New England where I currently live, but I'd hardly describe it as the "hip, happening place to be", which is kind of how this article makes it sound. I think many of the items under "Wawa culture" should go under a section named "Wawa in Popular Culture", similar to many other articles --208.204.155.241 19:02, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Honestly you have to be kidding, Wawa has created a love and brand loyalty like no other especially among college students. It is the source of countless facebook and myspace groups, which either talk about how much the store is loved or how much it is missed. I have personally experienced this since leaving for school in harrisburg. Wawa withdraw is very well known by former Wawa addicts. I really feel like the unique brand loyalty should be noted in the article some where.

Image:WAWAnewlogo.gif is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 03:17, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

I am a student at the College of William & Mary, and our local Wawa is basically a god to the vast majority of our student body. It is allegedly the highest- or second highest-grossing Wawa in the country (may depend on the year) and it's hard to find a time where there aren't lines of students and Williamsburg residents who just don't know any better. It is a tremendously successful Wawa even though it doesn't sell gas. Is this at all noteworthy? Could it serve as an illustration to the "teenagers and college students stumbling in" (and we do stumble, let me assure you) already mentioned in the article? Am I just an attention whore? Your thoughts are appreciated. --BDD 17:47, 16 November 2005 (UTC)

I would say probably not, but if you could probably include a picture of the store as an example (possibly the interior because we don't have a picture of that yet). Getagrip123 23:08, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

A few facts: Wawa operates in 5 states: PA, NJ, DE, MD, and VA. They don't build stores in North Carolina (yet). They just built there 200th fuel store and have a total of over 580 stores. I also will confirm some of the first statement made above...that which references "college students stumbling in" to stores, as I too used to be one of those students.

Where I live wawa is huge. Just down the street from my school. it is always packed. Wawa has a big following that can be called a culture. Just search Wawa on facebook and you'll see it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.238.202.113 (talk) 22:26, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

I heard a rumor that Wawa will no longer expand it's boundaries any further than they can deliver milk from their farms in Pennsylvania and have the trucks return...Any truth to this that anyone knows of? Maybe a fallout from the competition in the north east? Johnska7 12:29, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

The rumor is partly true. Wawa will not deliver their dairy products further than a 6-hour delivery time to meet the strict company standards for freshness. Wawa is currently looking for a new market to expand to, however the location has not been disclosed. When the location is determined/announced, a dairy farm will be built to continue delivering Wawa dairy products to the new stores in accordance with strict company standards.75.193.175.26 18:42, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Very cool...I happen to live in NJ, so we have them, but I wasn't sure if that was true or not, and I didn't see it in the article (at least not explicitly). --Johnska7 17:58, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Um why does the picture say "former" Wawa when that Wawa is in fact still there because I live a minute from it. And why does it say that super wawa was built 2 miles in Woodbury Heights when it was built 2 miles away in Turnersville i know for a fact because I dont live far from it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.141.131.5 (talk) 00:51, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

This article talk page was automatically added with {{WikiProject Food and drink}} banner as it falls under Category:Restaurants or one of its subcategories. If you find this addition an error, Kindly undo the changes and update the inappropriate categories if needed. You can find the related request for tagging here -- TinucherianBot (talk) 11:38, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

The Wawa drive-in in Yorktown, VA was shut down, so I removed the statement that one existed from the article. http://www.wydaily.com/2317/Yorktown-Wawa-Pulls-Plug-on-Drive-In.html 68.107.147.226 (talk) 23:11, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

A date on those statistics would be really nice. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.38.88.178 (talk) 68.38.88.178 (UTC) I think you should be in Florida. I live in NJ and Fl. Ft. Pierce would be nice. We miss wawa in fl. beverly Bye —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.200.79.25 (talk) 13:10, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

Talorico, Patricia (22 September 2010), "Wawa's java makeover means no more coffee pots", DelawareOnline, Delaware Diner's Digest, News Journal (Gannett), archived from the original on 23 September 2010, retrieved 23 September 2010{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) --User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 11:10, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

The article includes the statement:

Since 1996, many Wawa stores have been relocated to "Super Wawas," with 12-20 gasoline pumps, and all new Wawas constructed are of the "Super Wawa" variety, though not all feature gas stations.

But it also includes this contradictory one:

The "Super Wawa" sites, in addition to being larger stores, also provide gasoline.

The latter statement includes an inline reference to http://www.wawa.com/WawaWeb/Freshfood.aspx . There are several problems with this link:

1. It's a page on the Wawa corporate site, not a reliable third-party source.
2. It doesn't mention "Super Wawas"
3. It doesn't say anything about some stores being larger than others.
4. It doesn't mention Wawa locations that sell gasoline.

Wawa doesn't appear to use the term "Super Wawa" on their site. I've found newspaper articles that use the term, but without defining it. I've searched, though not exhaustively, without finding an instance of a Wawa that doesn't sell gas being called a "Super Wawa".

What to do? Clearly the term "Super Wawa" is in use (though perhaps not in official corporate communications). It means larger stores, at least some of which (and maybe all) sell gas. I think that the best we can do, absent a better source, is to make the article vague enough not to contradict itself, and add a ^{[citation needed]} tag. I plan to do that now, in the hope somebody can do better later. As part of this edit, I plan to drop the link to Wawa's "Freshfood.aspx" page, which is neither a reliable source by Wikipedia standards nor relevant to the text it follows.

Please don't take any of this as Wawa-bashing. I love Wawa. But I love Wikipedia, too. TypoBoy (talk) 15:44, 8 July 2013 (UTC)

Follow-up: the "Freshfood" link was clearly meant to support the sentence before the one about Super Wawas. I moved it there, instead of deleting it, despite its flaw (of not being a third-party source). TypoBoy (talk) 16:00, 8 July 2013 (UTC)

reference:

The Wawa dairy was born in 1890, when there was no pasteurization and children often got sick from raw milk. George Wood, a New Jersey businessman, bought 1,000 acres in Wawa and imported cows from the English Channel island of Guernsey. Then he hit upon a marvelous marketing strategy: He had a group of doctors certify that his milk was sanitary and safe.
— https://web.archive.org/web/20160303234716/http://articles.philly.com/1989-06-15/news/26107992_1_franklin-mint-wawa-road-post-office

This assertion of fact by the anecdotal source is being present as fact in the sentence "Since pasteurization was not yet available, many children faced sickness from consuming raw milk.". There is nothing scientific about the source article and it has no references of its own. What makes an "assertion of fact" presentable as fact in an encyclopedia? I'll go ahead and delete the sentence and see if anyone cares to explain why a purely anecdotal source can be cited as fact. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.89.137.198 (talk • contribs) 23:16, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

This seems like a case of WP:BLUESKY but nevertheless, inline citations added. Levivich (talk) 00:20, 11 December 2018 (UTC)

The sources added also provide no facts about illness allegedly caused by raw milk around 1890. The CDC does provide editorializing however: "Most public health professionals and health care providers consider pasteurization one of public health’s most effective food safety interventions ever!"

"The sky is blue" is something directly observable if you grasp the concept of blue, but raw milk cannot legally be sold for human consumption. So how would one observe that it causes sickness? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.89.137.198 (talk) 02:46, 11 December 2018 (UTC)

The Philadelphia Inquirer is a reliable source. It says without pasteurization children often got sick from raw milk. That anyone might doubt that raw milk transmits disease (while a sad exercise of first world privilege) is immaterial here. A reliable source, discussing the topic (Wawa) says it. That makes it verifiable.

If you feel the Inquirer is not a reliable source for the material, please take the issue directly to the Reliable Sources Noticeboard. While I assure you that it is a reliable source, you don't need to believe me. Have at it.

If you feel the source does not support (as in: "that's not what it says!") the wording in the article, please explain what part of what is in the article is, in your opinion, not stated by the source and suggest better wording.

No, we cannot use a source -- no matter how reliable or how on-topic you feel it is -- that does not discuss pasteurization, raw milk, disease and Wawa. As the CDC source does not directly make a connection between pasteurization and the growth of Wawa (the topic of this article), it is off-topic here.

TL;DR version: the Inquirer is a reliable source and it supports the material, therefore the material is verifiable and on-topic. - SummerPhD^v2.0 03:27, 11 December 2018 (UTC)

@RayScript:, you added the "Employee Owned Company" category to this. Employees only own 40% of the company. (In fact, this was the subject of recent lawsuits against Wawa.) Wouldn't it really need to be 51% employee owned to qualify for the category?
I'm not asking to insinuate anything. Just curious what the threshold is.      — BoringJim (talk) 18:15, 24 July 2020 (UTC)

@BoringJim: That's a fair question and I don't have an answer. I know that wawa has a reputation for being employee owned and it says employee owned in the article so I figured that was enough. I looked around and don't see any exact description or amount for the category. However, since 40% is a pretty good chunk I think it's good to have it in the category. RayScript (talk) 23:48, 24 July 2020 (UTC)

Given the significance to Wawa between their locations with and without fuel, I've created additional footprint maps for both. On the other hand, adding either or both of them could be needlessly cumbersome to the article. I present them both here for others to decide, or offer an opinion about that.

     — BoringJim (talk) 16:34, 28 December 2019 (UTC)

  This is now outdated.
The new footprint map distinguishes between Fuel, Non-Fuel & Drive-Thru locations.        —  BoringJim (talk) 03:12, 27 January 2021 (UTC)

I would love to add a section that highlights the almost cult-like following that WaWa has. To simply call it a "convenience store in the Philadelphia area" doesn't capture the phenomenon. For anyone who is not familair with the area, imagine how people feel about Trader Joe's, or In-and-Out, but it is unique to Philadelphians and the Delco area as a whole.

I've found multiple articles on this topic, the one that seems to hit the nail on the head is this one from Philly Magazine-- "Philly loves Wawa. Ever since the first Wawa opened at the corner of MacDade Blvd. and Swarthmore Ave. in Folsom, Pennsylvania over 50 years ago, we’ve had an obsession with this local chain. Wawa isn’t just a convenience store, it’s the convenience store of Philadelphia." ^[1]

Another topic of note with regards to WaWa and local culture, is whether WaWa or their rival, Sheetz, is the better store. I would liken it to the Eagles-Steelers rivalry, that has been around since 1933. How a convenience store gets the same fervor as a sports team will forever be a mystery to me, but it has happened none the less! Here's a quote from a humorous article that tries to settle the argument: "Sheetz is typically louder and flashier, with a more intense vibe than Wawa’s unassuming, plain and simple appearance. Sheetz has a wide variety of exotic frozen drink options on their Slushie menu, ranging from peanut butter and jelly to horchata to orange creamsicle and more. But while Sheetz may seem like it has more options, Wawa reminds us that no matter how you are dressed, you are welcome there. Still wearing your pajamas and heading out for a snack? No one will judge you." ^[2]

The last bit of evidence I'd like to site with regards to just how much of a cult-like nature WaWa has developed is how it has seeped it's way into national pop culture references as well.

Johnny Knoxville of Jackass fame has a WaWa tattoo on his upper left arm, which he confirmed in a reddit AmA^[3], Kate Winslet has spoken about her love of WaWa, calling it a "mythical place" ^[4], and it shows up time and again in It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, notable in Season 2, episode 1 "Charlie gets crippled". Danny Devito's character Frank says, "Go down to the Wawa, pick me up a couple of sodas. I got a feeling I'll be pretty thirsty after this."^[5] There's local humor here, and a sort of Philly pride, in the fact that Frank says WaWa specifically-- he didn't say 7 Eleven after all!

I am wary of making a section that just has a bunch of pop culture references... however I do think this cult-like nature around the store is fascinating and should be reflected on the WaWa page. I welcome any thoughts/criticism from the community, and look forward to hearing your thoughts (and if anyone else is a Philly native, please feel free to chime in!) InhumanScarab (talk) 18:33, 4 December 2021 (UTC)

The cultural impact of Wawa on the area is probably worth expanding on to some degree (including the Sheetz rivalry), though probably not more than a few lines' worth of explanation. Brand popularity is just generally not that noteworthy and is generally given overly much weight if it's expanded on too much. We also need to avoid interpreting and analyzing why a particular celebrity or a line in a show presents something, and passing mentions of something in a greater work are generally just points of trivia. Ultimately, the barometer is going to be how many good, reliable sources cover the subject in question as a whole and not as a local flavor fluff piece. --Xanzzibar (talk) 01:02, 5 December 2021 (UTC)

Let me see if I can get a few more articles to drive this point home. Again, this is more than just a "popularity".

"To them, Wawa is a community hub that deserves praise, fan mail and even country songs. I ask Rozsa what inspired him to write and produce an entire song commemorating Wawa. “I come here every day. Even if I don’t need anything, I come in because I miss the feeling." ^[6]

This article from Eater goes so far as to say, "Philadelphia loves the pope the way it loves Wawa", noting that when the Pope came to visit Philadelphia, a new store was opened, and "when the mayor cut the ribbon, he promised to offer the pontifex a hoagie of his choice. Wawa distributed branded water during Mass, fed legions of first responders, and put up a cardboard Bishop of Rome for selfies."^[7]

The current CEO of WaWa had this to say, when addressing WaWa's fandom, again acknowledging a 'cult': “You think of a Wegmans, you think of an In-N-Out Burger, they are very slow growth, very deliberate — and I think there’s an element of that cult status that’s attached to that in some regard," Gheysens said. "Just as you get bigger, the focus has to turn more toward efficiency, away from the tailored approach to business and more to the process approach of business. I just wonder how much that can possibly erode the cult relationship you have.” ^[8] The quote is from PhillyVoice.

I don't just want to link article after article, BUT... I do want to link one more piece from The New York Times, and it's from 2006. All of these articles I have linked above are form 2016, or sooner. I point this out just to say, this sort of deep devotion to a convenience store has been around for some time now. They point to the culture of the staff as the reason for the love (I brought up Trader Joe's before, but this is another similarity-- Trader Joe's obsession seems to stem from the excellent customer service culture that is priority number one in the hiring process. I currently work at Trader Joe's, and I can be a primary source on that!). The Times article states, "But the most intriguing factor in Wawa loyalty may be something else: the service. This, at least, is the contention of Neeli Bendapudi, an Ohio State University marketing professor who studied the chain as part of her continuing research on the impact of service quality on brands. Part of her goal, she says, was to avoid obviously service-oriented businesses like fancy hotels and department stores and to look at a sector that’s “really nonglamorous.” Convenience stores, where employee turnover is high and transactions are about as basic as it gets, seemed like the perfect setting for indifferent service. Yet in interviews with regular Wawa customers, Bendapudi found that employee friendliness was a recurring theme. And in an article for The Harvard Business Review, she and her husband, Venkat Bendapudi (who teaches management at Ohio State), argued that this was not a fluke: Wawa makes a concerted effort to “provide outstanding customer-employee interactions” by way of careful hiring and training practices." ^[9]

Again, would love feedback on how to approach adding a section explaining this cult-like phenominon that surrounds WaWa's in the Philadelphia area. Thanks again to Xanzzibar for taking the time to read over my last addition to this thread! InhumanScarab (talk) 02:06, 5 December 2021 (UTC)

Something that has to be kept in mind when writing about facets of a topic is how much weight they're due. Remember that this is an encyclopedia, not an article, guide, etc. It should cover the material enough to establish why it's notable and contextualize it, not make any examination or come to its own conclusions. There's enough quality sources to for a paragraph to establish a strong local brand prominence (with an illustrative example or two), as well as enough material to expand a little on its Sheetz "rivalry", but there's not really much of note beyond that.

And, speaking personally and as a native of the region, I think local infatuation is being kind of overstated in this case. It's just another one of those silly things that Philadelphians play up; there's more 7-Elevens than there are Wawas both in the city itself and in the metro area, after all. --Xanzzibar (talk) 11:15, 6 December 2021 (UTC)

I can get behind this, and treating the WaWa entry more as an encyclopedia entry than an article is a great way to think about how much this topic needs to be expanded upon. With regards to the amount of fandom, I think it's just subjective at this point! I'd agree it's silly, and heck, maybe even that Philadelphian's play it up on purpose. But even THAT shows the fandom in a way. I'd even liken it to a local meme, in some ways.

That being said, I agree that if there was a HUGE section on the WaWa wikipedia page talking about the celebrity tattoos, the songs, the mentions in pop-culture, someone who wasn't familiar with WaWa may think that when you go to Philly, visiting a WaWa is the equivalent of seeing Independence Hall. I think we can find a middle ground, like you said. A short section acknowledging the local brand prominence, as well as the rivalry with Sheetz. Appreciate the thoughts as always, Xanzzibar, and happy to discuss this with another Philadelphian! InhumanScarab (talk) 14:28, 6 December 2021 (UTC)