Business & Tech

Wawa at 34th Street Marks 35th Anniversary on Thursday

The celebration includes free coffee and other festivities.

 

Wawa will celebrate a milestone in its company’s history — the 35th anniversary of their Ocean City Wawa located at 110 34th Street — on Thursday, May 16.

To honor this anniversary and to celebrate Wawa’s dedication to its Ocean City family, Wawa is hosting a family-reunion-style in-store celebration. The event begins at 1 p.m.

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During the festivities, Wawa will toast the generations of customers and associates for their friendship and business throughout the years through free coffee all day.

Wawa also will recognize New Jersey Coalition For Battered Woman with a donation of $180,088 raised through in-store donations by the customers and associates in New Jersey during the first quarter of 2013 in-store coin collection.

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As a highlight of the event, honored customers will be invited to take pictures with Wawa’s Mascots Wally Goose and Shorti at a special in-store photo booth. All pictures will be posted through online photo albums at wawaversary.com.

Additionally, prior to the event, longtime customers can enter to be a part of the celebration and win special Wawaversary perks! Prior to the event, customers can enter to win a week’s worth of coffee by filling out an entry form. Winners will be announced at the conclusion of each Wawaversary event.

 

2013 Wawaversaries By the Numbers 

Wawa’s Ocean City family reunion anniversary celebration is part of this year’s Wawaversary celebrations; in 2013, Wawa will celebrate milestone anniversaries or 25, 30, 35, 40, and 45 years for 65 of the stores throughout their chain. This will be Wawa’s final year of Wawaversary celebrations, which began in 2009.

Throughout the 2013 Wawaversary celebrations Wawa will: 

  • Give away more than 100,000 cups of free coffee 
  • Perk over 50,000 Key Extended Family Members milestone customers with free specialty beverages 
  • Award and Highlight over 300 Key Extended Family Members milestone customers 
  • Donate over $2 million to various charities through check presentations representing in-store collections at each Wawaversary Celebrations

“It’s been wonderful to celebrate our customers and associates through our Wawaversary events, and as we enter the final year of these celebrations, we are reminded of the incredible bonds that make our associates, customers, and community partners part of one big extended Wawa family,” said Chris Gheysens, Wawa’s President and CEO. “These family reunions remind us of the strength of these connections and we want to say thank you to everyone who continues to make Wawa a place that not only simplifies lives, but feels like home!”

 

Wawaversary Event Specifics 

 To mark the start of the reunion, Wawa’s Mascot, Wally Goose and Shorti will lead the Wawa Through the Ages parade, which visually highlights Wawa’s key milestones. The parade features associates wearing oversized foam-board photos of everything from Wawa’s famous milk man, to everyone’s favorite hoagies, to the evolution of coffee cups through the years.

 

Key Extended Family Members

As part of this milestone reunion celebration, Wawa will honor Key Extended Family Members. Wawa has identified key customers who have frequented the location since the very first day it opened!

To honor these key family members, the store’s General Manager, Randy Lalsie-Wildman, will present each of these customers with a specially designed golden travel mug, filled with one month’s worth of free Wawa coffee coupons and specialty beverages. In addition, each of these customers will be presented with a ceremonial “key to the store.” Cake and coffee will be served to all, with music and dancing to follow. Each Key Extended Family Member will also be presented with a t-shirt featuring the store number and how long they’ve been part of the Wawa Family!

 

Key Immediate Family Members 

 The ceremony will also recognize the Key Immediate Family Members, Wawa’s longest-term associates at the store. These Key Immediate Family Members will be presented with Wawaversary GooseBumps an internal Wawa recognition program that results in Wawa gear and prizes – in acknowledgement of the important role they play in forming Wawa’s bond with customers and the community.

The Ocean City store was built in 1978. Throughout the years, the store has evolved and been remodeled, bringing customers state-of-the-art facilities, service and convenience.

 

About Wawa

Wawa, Inc., a privately held company, began in 1803 as an iron foundry in New Jersey. Toward the end of the 19th Century, owner George Wood took an interest in dairy farming and the family began a small processing plant in Wawa, Pa, in 1902. The milk business was a huge success, due to its quality, cleanliness and “certified” process. As home delivery of milk declined in the early 1960’s, Grahame Wood, George’s grandson, opened the first Wawa Food Market in 1964 as an outlet for dairy products. Today, Wawa is your all day, everyday stop for fresh, built-to-order foods, beverages, coffee, fuel services, and surcharge-free ATM's. A chain of more than 600 convenience retail stores 300 offering gasoline, Wawa stores are located in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Florida. The stores offer a large fresh food service selection, including Wawa brands such as built-to-order hoagies, freshly-brewed coffee, hot breakfast sandwiches, built-to-order Specialty Beverages, and an assortment of soups, sides and snacks.

— News release from Wawa


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