Collingswood mourns a Wawa closure that had been pitched as temporary
The Haddon Avenue Wawa closed for what the convenience store chain initially said was needed repairs. Then it announced the store would be closed for good.
The paper note taped to a glass door of the Wawa in downtown Collingswood, it turns out, offered false hope.
As customers walked up to the convenience store on the 600 block of Haddon Avenue on Monday, unaware it was closed, they were greeted by the note promising a temporary closure to “make some necessary repairs.”
“We are working as quickly as possible to get this taken care of,” it read, thanking customers, apologizing for the inconvenience, and redirecting them to other Wawas in the area.
As the days went by, rumors about the Camden County store not reopening began to spread on social media, even sparking Reddit threads.
“A number of people were told [the store was closing] by Wawa staff, and someone called the location and was told the same thing,” a user posted on Reddit, wondering about the permanency of the shutdown.
“Sad to see one of the last remaining OG Wawas go,” another user said. “I know Wawa and Rite Aid are huge corporations, but those mini versions of the store just felt right for our small town.”
On Saturday, Wawa confirmed to The Inquirer that the Collingswood store is permanently closed.
“Wherever possible, we modernize or relocate our older stores rather than close them. After extensive evaluation of store performance, conditions, and the possibility of expansion to support our new format, we’ve determined that we are not able to do so,” said Lori Bruce, a Wawa spokesperson
Workers have already been relocated to nearby stores, Bruce said, stressing the company’s desire to maintain a “strong partner in this community.”
The shuttering of the Collingswood store follows a Wawa trend in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania, where smaller stores are being replaced by those with bigger footprints, in large part to include gas pumps.
Between 2020 and 2024, eight of the 12 Wawa stores in Center City closed down. And Cherry Hill saw its Route 70 Wawa close after 50 years of service. Some of the closures left a void for competitors to enter what was formerly Wawa territory — as seen in Sheetz’s recent move to Limerick Township.
Collingswood Mayor Jim Maley said Saturday he did not find out about the decision to close the Haddon Avenue store from the Delaware County-based chain and had yet to receive direct confirmation from it.
“Wawa certainly has been clear they like Super Wawas better than these stores, so I’m really happy we lasted as long as we did,” Maley said. “It was really good, convenient, clean, great staff, a great part of the community; we wish they wouldn’t leave us, but they are, so we are going to figure it out.”
Representatives from a convenience store he would not name will be visiting the now-closed Wawa location in the coming days, Maley said.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia customers looking to patronize the Wawa in the heart of the Thomas Jefferson University campus and hospital complex, on the 900 block of Walnut Street, Sunday encountered a locked door with a “closed until further notice” sign, and another sign suggesting a Wawa at Sixth and Chestnut Streets as an alternative.
A spokesperson for Wawa said Monday that the Walnut Street store closure was temporary, due to “necessary maintenance.” The store will reopen “as soon as possible,” the spokesperson added.