Wilkes-Barre Twp. Wawa nearing completion; could open in early December

WILKES-BARRE TWP. — The new Wawa being built in Union Center Plaza along Route 309 in Wilkes-Barre Township is nearing completion and could open in early December.

The building is up and people are working inside to get the new convenience store/gas station completed, and the gas pump area is also being set up.

“We are getting closer for sure,” said Lori Bruce, senior manager of media relations at Wawa Inc. “We are still tracking for a December grand opening and will be able to share a date over the next few weeks.”

In the same plaza, work is also moving fast at Aldi, a grocery store that will occupy most of the space of the former Kmart store. And at the opposite corner of the plaza, a new Cloud 10 Car Wash is also moving ahead rapidly.

Tom Zedolik, Wilkes-Barre Township code enforcement and zoning officer, said he has been performing inspections as needed at Wawa and was impressed with the progress made on all the new construction projects in the plaza.

“Once open, each of our stores will employ, on average, 35 new associates,” Bruce said.

She said Wawa is a family and associate-owned company with Wawa associates owning 39% of the company through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).

Wawa is also looking to locate in two other Luzerne County areas — Dallas Township and Plains Township.

The Dallas Township store is to be built next to Tractor Supply on Route 309.

The proposed site in Plains Township is near Mohegan Pennsylvania at the intersection of East Main Street and Route 315 — across the street from a similar type chain, Sheetz.

Plains officials have said the applicant for the project is Plains Development Partners, which is an arm of Summit Realty Advisors LLC, of Ambler, Montgomery County. That same company is also seeking to build the Wawa on Route 309 in Dallas Township near Tractor Supply.

Wawa highlights:

• Serves more than 600 million customers annually.

• Brews over 195 million cups of its award-winning coffee each year.

• Builds more than 80 million built-to-order hoagies annually.

• 36,000 employees.

• Wawa Logo: “Wawa” is a native American word for the Canada goose that was found in the Delaware Valley, thus the use of the Canada goose on Wawa’s corporate logo.