The popular northeast convenience store and gas station Wawa is set to enter North Carolina. But hold back your hoagies – not for at least two years.

The Philadelphia-area chain, known for brands such as custom hoagies, hot breakfast sandwiches, coffee, soups, sides and snacks, has grown. Wawa lists 17 store openings by the end of the year in Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia on the company’s website.

“We are actively researching potential sites for new Wawa stores” in North Carolina, but cannot confirm locations or timelines, the company told the Observer’s news partner WSOC-TV. Wawa hopes to open its first NC stores by the end of 2024.

A Wawa official could not immediately be reached for comment by the Observer on Friday afternoon.

The closest Wawa to Charlotte is about 232 miles away in Midlothian, Va., near Richmond, according to a Google search.

The company has more than 35,000 employees, according to Wawa’s website. The starting hourly wage for employees for full-time and part-time jobs is $15 per hour, plus benefits.

Wawa, a private company, started as an iron foundry in New Jersey in 1803, according to the company’s website. The chain now has more than 900 locations in Delaware, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington DC.

What does Wawa mean?

“Wawa” is a Native American word for the Canada goose found in the Delaware Valley more than 100 years ago, according to the company’s website.

The company’s original dairy farm was on land in a rural area of ​​Pennsylvania called Wawa. The goose therefore appears on the Wawa company logo.

Other Philadelphia Favorites

Wawa wouldn’t be the only Philadelphia-area company giving transplants a taste of home.

Rita’s Water Ice has several franchises in the Charlotte area.

And in 2017, Lee’s Hoagie House opened a franchise in Lake Wylie, South Carolina. This way people online can chat if they want their cheesesteaks to be “wid” or “widout” Cheese Whiz.

Observer Editor Adam Bell contributed to this report.

This story was originally published March 11, 2022 4:41 p.m.