Video: Hoagies For Heroes, Marching Band Help Celebrate Wawa Opening

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — Fairfax City Hall bigwigs, cops and firefighters, and the Fairfax High School Marching Pride and Color Guard helped celebrate the grand opening Thursday morning of Wawa's 100th grocery and fuel station in Virginia.

Fred Diamond of Vienna got in line at 6:30 a.m. to be the first customer to walk through the store's doors when they opened at 8 a.m. A native of Philadelphia, he and his family are long-time fans of the franchise.

"First of all, it's the best convenience store by far," he said, when asked what he liked about Wawa. "Everything about it, the quality, the food, the customer service, the philosophy behind the store, the way the stores are built, and the tradition with the families that own this store. It's just a good, quality place."

Local elected officials and business leaders were also on hand to welcome Wawa to the city.

"It's great that a nationwide franchise like Wawa finds value in opening a store in the City of Fairfax," said Fairfax City Council Member Jon Stehle Jr. "It just shows the type of energy we've got, the type of connectivity we have, the type of economic growth we're experiencing, and a great value to our citizens."

"Having Wawa in the City of Fairfax, it's a great new opportunity for our citizens to enjoy their fantastic hoagies and convenience store offerings and inexpensive gas," said Jennifer Rose, executive director of the Central Fairfax Chamber of Commerce. "It's very convenient and it's replaced a less than attractive building that was on the site. So, it's nice that it's dressed the area up a little bit and it's providing jobs for folks in the city."

Wawa submitted its application to the city on Jan. 26, 2019 to build a grocery store and fuel station on the site of the former Rodeway Motel at 9700 Fairfax Blvd. The city council approved the application at a Jan. 14, 2020 public hearing.

City Council Member Tom Ross compared Wawa's opening to the recent arrival of 800 George Mason University at The Flats in Old Town Fairfax.

"It's a time of change in the community, but it's part of our continued effort to grow the right way," he said. "Bring economic development and redevelopment in to the city and help us compete with a region that is growing dramatically."

The Marching Pride and Color Guard, which had marched all the way from Fairfax High School, provided music and entertainment for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. They also cheered on teams from the city's fire and police departments and the George Mason University Police Department, which competed in the Hoagies for Heroes sandwich-making competition.

Although only one team was crowned the winner of the competition — see the video below — all three teams received a $1,000 checks from Wawa for Special Olympics Virginia.