PHILADELPHIA-Everybody loves it when a local kid makes it big.  We take pride in the fact that our region spawned such talent, having pride that somehow, some way, our local way of life was responsible for their success.

While Wawa Food Markets are certainly not actual offspring of Philadelphia proper, the entire Delaware Valley has treated the stores as our progeny regardless.  “Wawa,” a Native American word for the Canada Goose which serves as an emblem on its logo, has been a local favorite for coffee, sandwiches and convenience store products since the first store’s inception in 1964. Wawa has always called their sandwiches hoagies, and not subs or heros, winning the acclaim and loyalty of Philadelphians. 

To the locals, it has become as much a part of the region as cheesesteaks and soft pretzels. There are even Facebook Pages dedicated to Wawa with over half a million fans. But now, the locals are turning.  It seems as though Wawa, once thought of as a burgeoning entrepreneurial dairy farm business, has become the proverbial 400 pound gorilla who evokes shades of "Walmart-like" dominance.

The change first started when Wawa decided to make new stores in the “Super Wawa” mold, those with gas stations in addition to the usual deli and convenience store concept.  It was a new source of income for the company, and was a natural expansion of their core business….convenience. While other large and growing retailers sought big box stores, Wawa could choose locations void of any other large scale retail presence, something that would be taboo to most other chain retailers.  This allowed Wawa to break into neighborhood communities rather than solely shopping corridors and high-traffic thoroughfares, as it simply made them closer and more convenient to their customer base. While consumers may have seemed ambivalent towards the gas concept, they still loved their Wawa stores.

But as hard times befell the local economy and while Wawa continued to grow and expand, the mood subtly changed. As Philadelphia Inquirer writer Joe DiStefano pointed out in his October 18th Philly Deals blog, many local business owners are starting to resent Wawa, suggesting its grow-at-all-costs mentality is hurting the local businesses of the very consumers it relies on for its own business. Bob Wilson, who has been in the service station business for 44 years, makes the argument on behalf of small businesses against the growth of Wawa into their local market:

"These guys (small businesses) have built the business from their fathers. They've worked their whole lives. Now this corporation will swallow things. I don't know what it'll do to the hoagie shops, the small restaurants. We're just concerned because if this comes in it'll kill everybody. You'll have one big new business, and 20 empty businesses. Everybody knows these dealers. They're good, hardworking people who've built their businesses."

This debate of course is about business. Per their website, Wawa employs 16,000 associates throughout its 570 stores in portions of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. Their continued growth gives back to the community through gainful employment, something the Philadelphia region is lucky to have in strong numbers relative to many other areas of the country. Furthermore, Wawa’s philanthropic efforts with charities like the Special Olympics, the Children’s Miracle Network, American Red Cross, Phil-Abundance, and many others have exceeded the efforts of almost any other company of its size. Its roots in the community go back to 1803, surpassing the roots of almost any family business it usurps with its presence. It certainly gives back way more to the community it serves than any of the local businesses it cannibalizes.

The current situation for Wawa’s infringement on the health of other local businesses may simply be a matter of “may the best man win”.  Walmart, despite the loathing by many Americans, became what it is because it offers an array of goods for a lower price than the rest of its' competition.  We live in a capitalistic country that was founded on the concept of free markets and competition.  Wawa should not be judged for doing what it does efficiently and potentially better than its competition.  Competitors' complaints must be taken with a grain of salt.  If they offered consumers a superior product or service, it would be evidenced in their sales and their businesses would be able to survive the throes of the economic downturn. Instead, Wawa is poised to make the green pastures of its literal dairy farm past, an unequivocal figurative part of its fiscal future.