I haven’t been to Wawa in about a month and I can’t pinpoint exactly why. With that being said, I’m going to try to pinpoint why.

  • That familiar feel

    Cost – Wawa is sneaky. All the items seem cheap but this is deceptive. They have all sorts of deals where you buy 2 and save money. Buy 4 and get the 5th free. By the time I leave, I have 3 bags full and spent $50. A bit of an exaggeration but I’ve had totals in between $15-$20 for a simple lunch stop.

  • Quality – I don’t think I’m going out on a limb here to say that the quality of Wawa is not rising. What’s odd is that I used to enjoy the taste of the Sizzli and when I compared that to an Egg McMuffin, I preferred McDonald’s. This made me feel like the Sizzli was just a ploy at getting you to overspend on a shitty quality breakfast sandwich. Combine this with their whack ass cheese steaks, poorly constructed hoagies, and other average items, it’s not as cracked up as it used to be.
  • Coffee – This is a great business to be a part of as people get addicted, they shop at your store. I am making no remarks that Wawa’s quality has gone down or the service level is disappointing but for some unbeknownst reason, I don’t find myself craving their coffee much. There were times I’d drink evening coffee and I’ve cut that out of my life.
  • Convenience – This is the #1 reason why I go to Wawa but the fact of the matter is, there is no convenient Wawa for me in the city because they don’t have parking lots. My worst trips to Wawa involve me driving 8 minutes to a Wawa and then spending another 10 minutes parking where I have to walk another 5 minutes to the store. By the time I get there I’m dead. The only one with a parking lot is on Delaware Ave and that’s a 10 minute drive during non-rush hour and a 20 minute during. Not happening.
  • ATM – One of the main reasons I go to Wawa is because I use their ATM’s because I have PNC. They are free for other customers as well. When I have zero dollars, unlike Sam, I go to the ATM. This makes me frequent Wawa and for whatever reason, I’ve been getting my money from other ATM’s on the street.

So with those factors, my Wawa visits have declined to maybe 1 or 2 a month. I’ll still go before golf to stock up on 2 for $3.33 28oz Glacier Freeze Gatorades (they used to be 32 oz), but not for food runs. Any other people agree with these reasons for my declining commerce?