Wawa fanatics turn out to the new Miami store in droves. What’s all the fuss about?
They started lining up at 4:30 a.m., the rabid Wawa faithful, to be among the first to step inside one of the company’s three Miami stores, which opened Thursday morning.
Wawa, a national chain of convenience stores and gas stations with more than 840 locations around the U.S., expanded into Florida in 2012 and has 175 locations around the state.
But Miami residents had been shut out of Wawamania — until today.
Clara Berenguer, who works at Re/Max Real Estate in Miami, told her boss she needed to take the morning off to attend the grand opening of the Wawa location at 6971 SW 24th St.
She arrived at 5 a.m. and was sad to discover she would only be third in line. But she rolled with the disappointment and still got a free T-shirt and coffee for her loyalty.
“I’ve been waiting 17 years for them to come here,” Berenguer said. “The customer service is amazing and their beef brisket is the best beef brisket in the world.”
She was not alone in her enthusiasm. Lizette Espinosa, 50, also lined up for the grand opening with her friends Esther and Maria Marin, who are sisters.
“Every time I visit my family in Orlando, I always say we need a Wawa in Miami,” said Espinosa, who vouched for the turkey, ham and bacon club sandwich.
The Wawa locations have been custom-fitted for Miami, which means they sell pastelitos, empanadas and cortaditos alongside their trademark hoagies and cheap gas.
Chris Gheysens, president and CEO of Wawa, told a crowd of 150 Wawa fans gathered under a tent that the company hopes to open 100 more locations across Florida over the next two years.
The grand opening of the store included a performance by the SLAM Academy Dance Team, a $5,000 donation to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami, a $15,000 donation to the Feeding South Florida Senior Program, a $15,000 donation to the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital and another $10,000 donation to Coral Terrace, R R Moton and Goulds Elementary Schools to promote reading.
Miami Beach Police Detective Christopher Mitchell, who lost his 18-year-old son Dwayne Mitchell in 2016, was given the Wawa Foundation Miami Local Hero Award medal in honor of his work mentoring and educating young people following the tragic death of his son.
The grand opening also drew local business owners hoping to leverage Wawa’s Miami presence. Alex Stewart, sales director for the Miami-based My Protein Bites line of healthy snacks, said his company already has his products placed in various supermarkets and gas stations around Miami-Dade.
“But getting a corporate client like Wawa to sell our products would be a huge deal for us,” Stewart said.
The other two Miami locations, at 11990 SW 137th Ave. and 11101 SW 184th St., held grand opening celebrations of their own later in the day. All three stores will be offering free coffee of any size for the next 10 days.
This story was originally published May 9, 2019 at 1:35 PM.
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