August 05, 2015
JACQUELINE LARMA/AP
Bubba, 2, leans out of his owner's pickup truck parked in front of the first Wawa convenience store, opened in April 1964, in Folsom, Pa., Thursday April 22, 2004.
The dream of being able to drink beer at Wawa is coming one step closer to reality, as the Concord Township Board of Supervisors approved a local Wawa store's request to sell beer on Tuesday.
The store on Naamans Creek Road will still need approval from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, as Philly.com reported, and the approval extends to only that store and does not allow wine or liquor sales.
Township officials stipulated several regulations in exchange for approving the plan. The Wawa must give the town $15,000 for traffic improvement on Route 202, install security cameras outside, and there can be no outdoor seating, no beer on tap and no live entertainment (so you'll have nothing to listen to except that irritatingly catchy Wawa jingle playing over the speakers).
Wawa would also have to create a separate 400-square-foot restaurant area with its own entrance and cash register. Customers could only drink one bottle in the store and take two six-packs home. And even though the facility is open 24/7, beer sales would be limited to the hours of 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., or 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Wawa hasn't sold beer in Pennsylvania since 2003, but if the Delaware County store finds that customers jump at the chance to buy Hoegaardens with their hoagies, then the company "may look to expand the offering," a Wawa spokeswoman told Philly.com.
