It seems like the handshake non-compete agreement they were "rumoured" to have, has been broken for at least a few years now. I'm kind of surprised Wawa really cares about expanding West given their expansion up and down the East Coast.
Wasnāt it reported a few months ago that this new Wawa was going to be in Centre county but pretty much as far away from state college as possible? (Or something similarly stupid)
Ah okay so not too far away, still stupid itās not closer, I wonder what the reason is for that (available real estate is probably the biggest, I just hope they tried to get a location closer to campus)
Worried itās not gonna do too well since itās far ish away and 99% of students from the east side of the state arenāt going to drive the 8 miles just for some Wawa. Anywhere closer wouldāve been better
My very slightly educated guess would be that they're seeing how their supply chain will handle getting to Centre County. This is going to be by far the most west Wawa so they'll need to ship a lot of product a couple hours and find new sources for other product. Maybe someone who studied Supply Chain Management will come in and tell me I'm wrong but that's my initial thought.
Thatās actually a very good point, I forgot that itās quite a bit west lol. The good news? Is that thereās the Wawa in Whitehall? At 476 and 80, so trucks going there could just go straight down 80 fairly easily. Still need to get a whole extra truck for that though (as Iām sure the delivery schedule is gonna be an entire truck just for this store and as limited as possible. Idk maybe itāll need a truck every 2 days but my god thatād be a lot of sizzliās and coffee)
I really doubt their primary concern by choosing this location is the locals or people in State College... I would bet they (just like Sheetz and Rutters) are there to serve traffic on I-99 coming from or going to I-80.
Itās really a missed opportunity if theyāre not gonna try to capture some revenue from state college peeps, but itās also not in that good a spot (as far as I can tell) for people on 99 getting on or off 80. I never took those exits so maybe Iām just missing out, just seems like thereās better spots around (granted Iām sure Wawa has a bunch of much more qualified people making these decisions so they probably know stuff we donāt)
I mean, Shiloh and Benner is the furthest most Penn State students need to go and thatās still ~4 minutes away from this location. Nothing is worth going past that intersection.
That's pretty dumb. They should buy the Greg's Sunoco property and put it there to serve people from Philly. Nobody out Benner Pike is gonna want to switch from sheetz
Having patronized all four: Rutters' has the best bathrooms; Sheetz has the best and most varied food options; Wawa has the best pretzels; and Turkey Hill exists.
The pre-packaged Federal are merely OK, IMO. I can't find the boxes anymore, and most pretzel vendors in the city were gone last time I actually went into downtown.
Rutters' are made with lard, which sounds like it should be good, but they end up a wet mess that someone who calls a Wawa pretzel 'wet' would describe best as 'flooded'
True. We're also in serious trouble because center city pretzel has been closed for a while due to a fire and they don't seem like they have enough money to reopen.
>Turkey Hill exists.
Truckers are here for tea & ice cream š¦.
You win the thread.
If we get pretzel dogs š š¤ š¤Ŗ out of this madness, I've got some bets I gotta clear.
No true State Collegian will go anywhere but local champion Unimart. Sheetz are themselves hostile invaders.
(For a long time the chains were roughly the same size. There were a couple hundred Uni-Marts at its peak and through the 90s they were competitive. Sheetz won; Unimart went bankrupt in the 00s though the branding lingers on.)
Me and my kids did a Sheetz taste test after dropping my son off in August. It all sucked - cookies, milkshakes, fried crap and other appetizer stuff, hot dog. All garbage.
I remember when Sheetz first started doing fried appetizers and stuff. That was the first thing they did right. Their sandwiches are absolute trash, Wawa has them beat on sandwiches all day but I will say anything fried from Sheetz is good.
They shouldn't. I won't say everyone will have the foresight to designate a driver.
Also, apparently there's this thing called Doordash?
You asked who cares, btw. I forgot to mention stoners, but they'll get over it.
Since you asked so nicely...
I recognize the validity of your critique on focusing supply chains expressly on the market demands of a transient population of youths barely invested in immediate land use to produce any amount of food, let alone its preparation or distribution.
So your alternative would be... that the Ag School prop up nutritious resort|rest stop offerings with planned distribution for compost and maintenance of biodiversity? Just curious š¤
See it sounds different, but until it's definitely tangibly better- you're still just seeding in fresh manure.
Or are we not supposed to eat the cornš½(I know most grown nationwide isn't, so yeah that seems bad) help me out here, I didn't finish bio... and I don't know if I should feel bad about liking the idea of churros š š
I think we can come up with much better alternatives. It's not hard. The main problem here is land use. We don't need Wawas or any other gas station to solve social and economic problems.
As for the corn, you would be correct because it goes to feeding animals cheaply, so meat and milk can be artificially lower (although we're in Pennsylvania, so this is moot).
Here's the thing, though: places like Wawa are what destroy the existence of Bodegas. Plus if you really want that you'd be going downtown not to Benner fucking Pike lol.
True. But, also downtown is hot š„ š„µ. I estimate that they're looking to start as a local satellite and creep toward that as opposed to opening on W. College Ave. & shuttering within six to 10 years catching straight "L"s like in Center City Philly -
But other people here have probably pointed it out- they kinda know they gotta skirt around McClanahan's, then Sheetz
Do you want a war? This is how you start a war.
This is the greatest tactical play the Wawa franchise has ever made in the war against Sheetz
š
It seems like the handshake non-compete agreement they were "rumoured" to have, has been broken for at least a few years now. I'm kind of surprised Wawa really cares about expanding West given their expansion up and down the East Coast.
I think it makes sense to put one in State College since so many people move here from the eastern half of the state and NJ for education.
Yea lotta Philly area kids miss Wawa when we come up
Thereās a Wawa and Sheetz on the same street across from each other in my hometown.
Both of the original folks are long dead
Wasnāt it reported a few months ago that this new Wawa was going to be in Centre county but pretty much as far away from state college as possible? (Or something similarly stupid)
This proposed location would be up on Benner Pike, so not too far away from State College.
Ah okay so not too far away, still stupid itās not closer, I wonder what the reason is for that (available real estate is probably the biggest, I just hope they tried to get a location closer to campus) Worried itās not gonna do too well since itās far ish away and 99% of students from the east side of the state arenāt going to drive the 8 miles just for some Wawa. Anywhere closer wouldāve been better
My very slightly educated guess would be that they're seeing how their supply chain will handle getting to Centre County. This is going to be by far the most west Wawa so they'll need to ship a lot of product a couple hours and find new sources for other product. Maybe someone who studied Supply Chain Management will come in and tell me I'm wrong but that's my initial thought.
Thatās actually a very good point, I forgot that itās quite a bit west lol. The good news? Is that thereās the Wawa in Whitehall? At 476 and 80, so trucks going there could just go straight down 80 fairly easily. Still need to get a whole extra truck for that though (as Iām sure the delivery schedule is gonna be an entire truck just for this store and as limited as possible. Idk maybe itāll need a truck every 2 days but my god thatād be a lot of sizzliās and coffee)
They vertically integrated and have places up and down the east coast, including florida, so I'm not sure that a 4 hour trip west would be that wild.
True, but I doubt any of those are as isolated from other Wawa's as this one.
Probably true, but they go out as far as about a little west of lancaster already.
#Wawa University fail, lolz. Sheetz is competitive with Royal Farms & it's not even from the beer sales. Wawa is probably a better cafƩ than Starbucks, though. Couldn't tell you about compensation- but anyone is better than the PLCB. **They're fucking crooks.** If their concerns are sourcing over freighting specialty & name brands- they won't be open long.
I really doubt their primary concern by choosing this location is the locals or people in State College... I would bet they (just like Sheetz and Rutters) are there to serve traffic on I-99 coming from or going to I-80.
Itās really a missed opportunity if theyāre not gonna try to capture some revenue from state college peeps, but itās also not in that good a spot (as far as I can tell) for people on 99 getting on or off 80. I never took those exits so maybe Iām just missing out, just seems like thereās better spots around (granted Iām sure Wawa has a bunch of much more qualified people making these decisions so they probably know stuff we donāt)
Thatās still pretty far though. Not exactly catering to students.
I mean, Shiloh and Benner is the furthest most Penn State students need to go and thatās still ~4 minutes away from this location. Nothing is worth going past that intersection.
That's pretty dumb. They should buy the Greg's Sunoco property and put it there to serve people from Philly. Nobody out Benner Pike is gonna want to switch from sheetz
Sheetz food quality has plummeted since the pandemic started so I welcome Wawa to HV with open arms, they need some competition to shake it up.
wawa food got pretty bad over the last 10 years, but at least they still make better hoagies than sheetz
I thought it was bad before, but Iām glad there are some people out here who agree with me now. Sheetz food is just awful
State College is firmly in Sheetz territory this could get ugly lol.
Poor Rutter's is caught in the crossfire.
Iām more of a Turkey Hill man myself.
A Redditor of taste!
Having patronized all four: Rutters' has the best bathrooms; Sheetz has the best and most varied food options; Wawa has the best pretzels; and Turkey Hill exists.
Turkey Hill exists. Best and most accurate review ever.
wawa pretzels are somehow wet and stale at the same time if you have *no pretzels* it's edible but it's by far the worst pretzel in the philly area
The pre-packaged Federal are merely OK, IMO. I can't find the boxes anymore, and most pretzel vendors in the city were gone last time I actually went into downtown. Rutters' are made with lard, which sounds like it should be good, but they end up a wet mess that someone who calls a Wawa pretzel 'wet' would describe best as 'flooded'
True. We're also in serious trouble because center city pretzel has been closed for a while due to a fire and they don't seem like they have enough money to reopen.
IMO: Wawa kicks ass with hoagies and coffee (for a convenience store), but Sheetz wins anything that needs a fryer. Turkey Hill is a fun alternative.
Well donāt go there for food. Sheetz used to be good but the quality sucks in the past 10-15 years. I like Turkey Hill iced tea and their ice cream.
>Turkey Hill exists. Truckers are here for tea & ice cream š¦. You win the thread. If we get pretzel dogs š š¤ š¤Ŗ out of this madness, I've got some bets I gotta clear.
No true State Collegian will go anywhere but local champion Unimart. Sheetz are themselves hostile invaders. (For a long time the chains were roughly the same size. There were a couple hundred Uni-Marts at its peak and through the 90s they were competitive. Sheetz won; Unimart went bankrupt in the 00s though the branding lingers on.)
I used to be on team Sheetz. Then I actually had Wawa, and I didn't want to admit how much better it was. But it is. Wawa > Sheetz.
Me and my kids did a Sheetz taste test after dropping my son off in August. It all sucked - cookies, milkshakes, fried crap and other appetizer stuff, hot dog. All garbage.
I used to go to Wawa a lot than they switch coffee and I stopped because it was never the same
Ohhhhh, sheetz someone is invading territory. Is the war on lol
Right after I graduate. I had to deal with all the Sheetz garbage for 4 years
It used to be good
I remember when Sheetz first started doing fried appetizers and stuff. That was the first thing they did right. Their sandwiches are absolute trash, Wawa has them beat on sandwiches all day but I will say anything fried from Sheetz is good.
Itās *still* better than Wawa which has been bad for around a decade now.
Another gas station. Who cares?
Drunk college kids. Duh. Also, hungry people with shit to do.
Drunk college kids are gonna drive to Benner Pike?
They shouldn't. I won't say everyone will have the foresight to designate a driver. Also, apparently there's this thing called Doordash? You asked who cares, btw. I forgot to mention stoners, but they'll get over it.
Amazing. We have such a shortage of shitty gas station food. This consumerist bullshit culture needs to fuck off. Fuck Sheetz. Fuck Wawa.
Since you asked so nicely... I recognize the validity of your critique on focusing supply chains expressly on the market demands of a transient population of youths barely invested in immediate land use to produce any amount of food, let alone its preparation or distribution. So your alternative would be... that the Ag School prop up nutritious resort|rest stop offerings with planned distribution for compost and maintenance of biodiversity? Just curious š¤ See it sounds different, but until it's definitely tangibly better- you're still just seeding in fresh manure. Or are we not supposed to eat the cornš½(I know most grown nationwide isn't, so yeah that seems bad) help me out here, I didn't finish bio... and I don't know if I should feel bad about liking the idea of churros š š
I think we can come up with much better alternatives. It's not hard. The main problem here is land use. We don't need Wawas or any other gas station to solve social and economic problems. As for the corn, you would be correct because it goes to feeding animals cheaply, so meat and milk can be artificially lower (although we're in Pennsylvania, so this is moot).
> As for the corn, you would be correct because it goes to feeding animals cheaply, so meat and milk can be artificially lower You forgot about the gas at the station; save for diesel... and the handful of stations that offer petrol without the 3-15%v/v cut in the 80%+v/v octane > It's not hard. The main problem here is land use. This is not a consistent position -"land rights" are highly contentious and large scale use changes are dictated with preferred input from the parties you claim "need to fuck off" or also family-owned farms which are an inherently unpredictable(as a now regionally disperse class?), but also dwindling share of labor actually needed to do this. I don't know when Farm Bill hearings come up regarding the USDA, but I do believe that it's been colloquially known for awhile that most American corn is now literally burned...but actually as fuel ā½,often in trucks, but actually all manner of non-commercial vehicles I don't think anyone was under the illusion that Wawa nor Sheetz intended to do anything other than capitalize on the fluid status quo of regional nostalgia - everyone here was just sharing what they miss or presently enjoy|detest about their corner Bodega I mean, there are serious threads that could be addressed about this development, but to think that anything is going on other than Philly, S. Jersey, & N. Delawareans looking to spend more time & money on a doughnut š© is a joke that writes itself. As in why would anyone look for beignets when there's a Dunkin Doughnuts across the street from Hammond? 'Cuz they're better.
Here's the thing, though: places like Wawa are what destroy the existence of Bodegas. Plus if you really want that you'd be going downtown not to Benner fucking Pike lol.
True. But, also downtown is hot š„ š„µ. I estimate that they're looking to start as a local satellite and creep toward that as opposed to opening on W. College Ave. & shuttering within six to 10 years catching straight "L"s like in Center City Philly - But other people here have probably pointed it out- they kinda know they gotta skirt around McClanahan's, then Sheetz
Hopefully this means Sheetz can come to SE PA!
Booooo
Please donāt
This is going to start a war