Coffee and confetti, Wawa celebrates opening of West Landis store

VINELAND – It’s not every day Wawa serves up confetti with its coffee.

The colorful celebration marked the grand opening of the Landis Avenue/Mill Road location, the convenience store chain's fifth location within the city.

“We’re in Vineland N.J.; does anyone know where there is a Wawa,” joked Marc Maiolino, the director of store operations, welcoming customers on Thursday.

“Everywhere,” someone bellowed from the crowd.

“The history of Vineland N.J. and Wawa go way back,” Maiolino said, recalling the early days of small stores on neighborhood corners.

Those stores are long gone with Wawa luring patrons to larger stores with fuel services. Store No. 8484, with 16 pumps, was selling gas at $4.79 a gallon. It does not offer (EV) charging stations.

Wawa officials said they were pleased to get the site, marking a return to Landis Avenue. The store at Myrtle Street closed in October 2005 after a 30-year run.

This new development nudges business growth further along West Landis Avenue toward Route 55.

When municipal officials drafted the city’s redevelopment plan back in 2004-05, they predicted the corridor was prime for commercial development. Since 2017, Lidl, Planet Fitness, Mavis Discount Tires and Starbucks have all set up shop.

The new Wawa, located at 1935 W. Landis Ave., is not expected to impact continued operation of Wawas at nearby Delsea Drive locations, including Sherman Avenue and Park Avenue, said Alyson Mucha, a Wawa spokeswoman. The other locations are on Main Road and Brewster Road.

It’s the 13^th Wawa to open in New Jersey this year. An estimated 200 people stood in a line wrapped around the building waiting for doors to open at 8 a.m.

 “It was probably the longest line that I’ve seen this whole year thus far,” Mucha said. “It was awesome.”

Annette Dempster was among the first-day customers.

“Thank y’all Wawa,” she cheered exiting the store. “It is so beautiful.”

“I’m like 10 minutes down the street,” said the Upper Deerfield Township resident.

Wawa is her designed spot to fuel up.

 Gas for the car.

Hash browns for her.

Dempster was disappointed that she missed out on the free “Goose Vibes Only” T-shirts given to the first 100 patrons. But she was pleased with coupons she received for future visits.

Wawa is on track to open 54 new stores this year, creating 2,500 jobs. The Franklinville store is expected to open between December and March, Maiolino said.

The Landis store employs more than 50 full- and part-time staffers. It celebrates its crew with an employee recognition program dubbed “Day Brighteners.”

Before cutting the ribbon, Wawa officials spotlighted Teraya Morgan of Bridgeton as the store’s first award winner. Morgan was hired about a month ago and recently completed fuel attendant training.

 “Her team loves her light-hearted demeanor and strong work ethic,” store manager Martin Kuhn said.

Waw continued its grand opening tradition of a first-responder hoagie building content. The city’s fire and police department battled it out for a $1,000 donation the charity of their choice. The five-a-side teams faced off to see who could assemble the most Shorti hoagies in three minutes.

Contestants got a crash course on construction. Then it was gloves on and a countdown.

Finest went with a double line assembly format. The bravest turned to tried and true, employing the bucket brigade single-line pass down.

In the fierce, but fun, battle, firefighters applied a momentum suppression technique firing a spray of shaved lettuce at the police table.

Maiolino declared the fire department the winners, and they carried the trophy back to the fire station.

When the competition area was cleared, several unused Shorti rolls were found near the firefighters' table. The police contestants joked that they would be launching an investigation.

 While the firefighters won bragging rights, there were no losers.

Wawa donated $1,000 to the nonprofits selected by the competitors – the Burn Foundation and the Boys and Girls Club of Vineland.

The company also presented a $35,000 check to support Inspira’s Deborah F. Sager Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that provides life-saving care to premature/critically in infants in southern New Jersey.