Wawa breaks ground on first N.C. store on Outer Banks; announces 5-year expansion

With confetti and cheers, Wawa broke ground on the Outer Banks Friday morning for its first North Carolina store, right across the street from the new Target.

The convenience store/gas station chain plans to open the store at 1900 N. Croatan Highway in Kill Devil Hills in the first quarter of 2024, beginning a five-year expansion into North Carolina that will include 35 stores east of Interstate 95. Over the next 10 years, Wawa plans another 50 stores in the state.

After the Outer Banks, the next Wawa will go up in downtown Elizabeth City, company officials said during the groundbreaking.

Wawa chose the Outer Banks for the first North Carolina store due to its proximity to the Virginia market, as well as the local “sense of community,” said Kim Dowgielewicz, director of store operations.

“When you think about our company values, it seemed like a natural transition for us,” she said.

The Outer Banks Wawa will employ 35 to 40 people in a 6,000-square-foot store with eight gas pumps, 52 parking spaces and two underground tanks, according to site plans filed with the Town of Kill Devil Hills.

The store will be on the west side of U.S. 158 — the main thoroughfare through the beach towns of Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head — just south of Fifth Street and across the bypass from Target, which opened April 2. It will be the third convenience store on the same block, competing with Circle K and Speedway, which is in the process of rebranding as 7-Eleven.

It’s also one of two convenience store chains to locate their first North Carolina stores in the Outer Banks. Earlier this month, Royal Farms opened in Currituck County along the main route to the Outer Banks from the north.

The family- and employee-owned Pennsylvania-based Wawa chain operates 1,000 stores in six states and Washington, D.C. The closest store to the Outer Banks previously was in Chesapeake.

The chain got its name from the town where it opened its first dairy operation — Wawa, Pennsylvania — in 1902. Wawa is said to be a Native American word for Canada goose, and company officials played on that connection for the new Kill Devil Hill stores, located about a mile from the Wright Brothers National Memorial, where brothers Wilbur and Orville made their famous first flight.

“Wawa is flying into North Carolina,” said Jay Ratcliffe, the company’s regional manager.

To build each store, Wawa will invest about $6.5 million and employ about 140 contractors and local partners, Ratcliffe said.

At the groundbreaking, Wawa presented $3,000 checks to two regional nonprofits — the Coast Guard Foundation and Dare County Special Olympics — in a show of commitment to the community.

The Coast Guard Foundation plans to use the funds for sports and outdoor recreation equipment and funding recreational spaces for Coast Guard members and families in the Kill Devil Hills area, specifically for the Oregon Inlet unit.

Special Olympics will use the donation to support local athletes in the 2023 Special Olympics North Carolina Summer Games.

Kari Pugh, kari.pugh@virginiamedia.com