Go Back to the Early Days of Wawa With Vintage Photos

Let's go back to before the Super Wawa, touch screen ordering, and getting gas at Wawa. Let's take a look back at the earliest days of the Wawa Food Market.

The seeds of Wawa convenience stores were sown way back in 1902 when George Wood started a dairy with a small herd of cows and a processing/bottling plant in Wawa, Pa.

Using the slogan “Buy Health by the Bottle,” the business grew throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey as a team of milkmen delivered dairy products directly to the customer.

The first Wawa Food Market opened its doors in Folsom, Pa. in 1964 to sell deli meats, fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and other grocery items. Immediately, the company began growing and soon was offering innovative take-home meals, such as meatloaf and fish and chips.

Four years later, one of the first Wawa in South Jersey opened on Vineland's Chestnut Avenue, near Delsea Drive, in May 1968.

It was followed that October by locations on Main Road in Vineland and Sharp Street in Millville.

At the time, Wawa was open from 7 am to 11 pm daily, closing only on Christmas.

Today, Wawa is an all-day, everyday stop for food, beverages, coffee, fuel, and bathrooms. A chain of more than 950 convenience retail stores (over 750 selling gasoline), Wawa stores are located in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, and Washington, D.C.

Here are some photos of Wawa back in the early days and fun Wawa memorabilia.