As a Philadelphia suburbanite, Wawa is in my blood. My sister, just cresting the 1 1/2 year old landmark is already chanting "WAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWA". Pressing buttons on the elusive touchscreen and then walking out 2 minutes with a perfectly crafted meatball hoagie is just something you can't find anywhere else. Now that I can drive, I find that my money will be thrown out the window, as I am given full freedom to fulfill my wawa addiction, almost as if it is a drug. One time I had visited West Virginia for a cross country race. I remember seeing an obscure place named "Sheetz", to others who come to the Philadelphia area, this is what it must feel to first see Wawa. Sheetz has its own very strong following, though more based in the western portion of PA, like the Flyers and the Pens have their followers. This article was written by Trip Gabriel of the NYT to explain this rivalry to those who live outside of the battleground for these two convenience stores. For me, it was even an eye opening article, as my world only seemed to revolve around Wawa. Starting off the article, and peppered throughout, Gabriel melds an image of each of the two convenience stores and the clientele which frequent them. Wawa grabs the suburban crowd whereas Sheetz is the rural victor. Gabriel also alluded to Mitt Romney's experience at a Wawa when he was campaigning for President. This put the rivalry on the scale at a national level for the audience to better digest and it established the importance of the rivalry. Gabriel provided a map, with the contrasting colors of red and blue, something which seemed like each was representative of one choosing a political party. This image helped show the spread that existed between the two popular chains. Spattered throughout the piece was quotes from each of the customers, providing a format which would have been similar to a political debate. By the end of the article I felt as if Gabriel was able to turn this rivalry into a political conflict or election, and I left more educated(and satisfied to hear the recognition of my beloved Wawa) on the two chains. I have always dreamt of moving to other states(namely on the west coast) when I am older, but as I said when asked what I was going to miss most on my trip to Germany this summer, I will always miss Wawa.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/us/10convenience.html?hp
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