Explaining Wawa To Someone Who's Never Heard Of It

Those familiar with Wawa will inevitably come to a time when they mention the store and are greeted with blank stares of confusion. Most have at least heard of the store, often in comparison with Sheetz, but trying to actually describe it is a frustrating process which might go something like this:

"What the heck is a Wawa? That doesn't even sound like a real word?"

They have the little picture of a goose in their logo just to help explain this portion, nonverbally.

"Why are you excited about gas station food?"

It's a convenience store with a gas station. Just because it has gas and has largely become known for its sale of gas does not make the gas the main component of the store. Plenty of locations still exist which are solely the market component of Wawa. Also, there are fruit and vegetables in Wawa in comparison to the mostly pre-packaged goods at some gas stations.

"But, still — it can't be that good?"

I can get a kale salad, a hoagie, and a donut all in one place. They don't even have to go together, it's just convenient, wide-ranging in food type, and they're all individually delicious.

"What do you mean they advertise with airplanes?"

It's almost guaranteed sitting on the Jersey Shore beach that you will see planes flying overhead with banners advertising for hoagiefest.

"What the heck is hoagiefest?"

It's a yearly sale featuring annoyingly catchy marketing jingles and overplayed advertisements, but it's also a time for discounted hoagies — so it's worth it. Also, if you call hoagies, subs or sandwiches, or anything else of the sort, you probably had the "What is a Wawa?" conversation with someone.

"Are you from Philadelphia, then?"

Wawa territory is actually decently large, with answers to this question ranging from "Yes," "Not really, but kind of" to "No, Florida."

"Why do you miss it?" (Or "Stop complaining.")

This question (or outright statement) probably followed you complaining about how long it's been since you went there, even if you were just there this morning. In the event that it has been a decent length of time since you made it there, you might just be entering Wawa deprivation.

How is it different from Sheetz?

To quote Elizabeth Barrett Browning "Let me count the ways."

To quote my friends, "It just is!"

"Do you want to go there now?"

Yes! (Time is irrelevant to this answer.)