61-year-old convenience chain closes store after costly experiment

There is simply a peculiar benignant of nostalgia tied to household roadworthy trips. Waking up astatine the ace of dawn, packing the car with blankets and pillows, and someway squeezing everyone's luggage into the trunk. There are the inevitable arguments with siblings implicit who controls the music, the comic anecdotal retellings to walk the time, and making the archetypal halt astatine the family's favourite state presumption to drawback snacks, and, of course, java for the road.

As a autochthonal Texan, Buc-ee's stands retired arsenic 1 of the astir iconic convenience stores and state presumption chains successful the U.S. Despite operating less than 70 locations crossed 11 states, astir of them successful Texas, the concatenation has go an unmissable pit halt for road-tripping families, long-haul truckers, and commuters since opening its archetypal determination successful Clute, Texas, successful 1982.

However, for East Coast travelers, determination is 1 concatenation that reigns supreme.

Few could person predicted that a tiny dairy concern successful Pennsylvania successful 1920 would turn into 1 of the country's astir recognizable convenience store chains. Officially founded arsenic Wawa successful 1964, the marque rapidly became a fashionable among travelers and engaged consumers, acknowledgment to its cleanable bathrooms, caller coffee, and instrumentality favourite made-to-order hoagies.

But contempt gathering a loyal cult-like pursuing for implicit six decades, Wawa has not been immune to economical uncertainty. Shifting user habits, rising operational costs, and accrued contention person created challenges that adjacent the astir beloved brands are struggling to overcome.

Wawa has revealed that it volition adjacent its Drexel University determination astatine 3300 Market Street, successful Philadelphia, connected January 21, 2026, conscionable 2 years aft remodeling the full store, adding to a increasing database of caller closures nationwide.

Senior Media Relations Manager Lori Bruce said the determination was strictly business-related and followed respective attempts to code ongoing issues astatine the location.

"Over the years, we person made respective attempts to code concern and operational challenges astatine this location," Bruce told The Triangle. "This includes partnering with spot owner, Drexel University, successful an effort to code immoderate of these issues, and astir precocious making investments successful our store plan to trial a afloat integer format."

"Unfortunately, this trial did not adequately amended show oregon present an enhanced lawsuit experience, which yet led to the determination to adjacent the store," Bruce added.

While the closure marks the extremity of Wawa's beingness connected Drexel's campus, it does not mean a afloat exit from the surrounding community. The institution encourages customers to sojourn adjacent locations, including stores astatine 3604 Chestnut Street and 3724-3744 Spruce Street.