Wawa will open first stores in Ohio and Indiana

• Wawa is expanding to Ohio and Indiana.
• The first Ohio store will be located outside Cincinnati, while the first Indiana store will be located in a suburb of Indianapolis.
• The privately owned c-store chain plans to double its footprint during the next decade. 

The latest part of Wawa’s expansion plan involves stores in Ohio and Indiana — states that don’t currently have a Wawa location. 

The Ohio opening was first reported by the Journal-News, which said the first Wawa in the state would be located in Liberty Township, a suburb of Cincinnati. The location will replace a car wash and a former Dairy Mart convenience store, which closed about a decade ago. 

Robert Grassman, a retail engineer for Wawa, told the outlet that the retailer planned to open a “cluster” of Wawa stores in the state by 2025. The c-store’s first store in Indiana will open in Noblesville, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis, the IndyStar reported.

Wawa first announced its plans to expand to Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky last year. The Pennsylvania convenience chain has plans to double its retail footprint during the next decade, Retail Leader previously reported. A large part of that expansion plan includes openings in the Southeast, including in Alabama and in the Florida panhandle. In total, the c-store plans to open 40 stores in the region within the next decade. Other states slated to get Wawa stores include Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia.