Wawa coming to Penn State

Sheetz haters at Penn State are in luck — Wawa is officially coming to Happy Valley.

Wawa has plans to open 10 stores in the broader Centre County area by 2031, with four stores planned for the State College area, the Centre Daily Times reported.

The first stores will open at Route 322 and Ferguson Valley Road in Yeagertown and Route 150 and Water Street in Mill Hall in the spring and fall of 2026, respectively.

Other Wawa locations will include Centre Hall along Benner Pike, North Atherton Street in State College and the corner of East College Avenue and Squirrel Drive in College Township.

Justin Tichy, Wawa’s chief operating officer and a 1993 Penn State graduate, said the company has long viewed central Pennsylvania as a prime target for expansion, the CDT said.

For all 10 stores, Wawa will invest roughly $75 million total in the construction and operations. The stores would employ around 350 workers.

“You’re all going to ask me, ‘So, when is my Wawa opening?’ That’s a tough question to answer,” said John Poplawski, Wawa’s chief real estate officer. “All of my developer partners and real estate folks are working as hard as they possibly can to get them open as fast as they can. We’re partnering with all the local officials, but things don’t happen overnight.”

Wawa initially said it would break into the State College as soon as 2025, The Daily Collegian reported.

Lori Bruce, a public relations team member for Wawa, said the organization has received “thousands” of requests to expand into central Pennsylvania, the outlet said.