Wawa expands to a second Mobile County city this week, with a grand opening set for Thursday morning.

Festivities will begin at 7:45 a.m., with the new store’s doors to open at 8 a.m. at 2137 Schillinger Road North in Semmes. This will be the sixth Wawa in southwest Alabama since the chain announced its move into the state and the third in Mobile County, after two locations in west Mobile.

The first 100 customers will receive free T-shirts and the store will provide free hot coffee to patrons through Sunday, Aug. 3. The chain also is offering a $5 Big Breakfast Deal, which includes a Sizzli breakfast sandwich, a hash brown and any size hot or iced coffee, through Sept. 7.

Participants in the opening festivities will include local officials, the chain’s “Wally Goose” mascot and representatives of the Semmes police and fire rescue departments, who will compete in a “Hoagies for Heroes” contest benefiting local nonprofit organizations.

Wawa is a food market/gas station chain that started with a dairy market in 1964 in the Pennsylvania town of Wawa. It’s a privately held company with more than 1,000 stores; most of those are in East Coast states, but in 2022 the chain announced an aggressive plan to spread across the Florida Panhandle and the central Gulf Coast. The first Alabama store opened in April 2024 in Fairhope.

The chain has a large fan base of customers who praise the stores for their above-average cleanliness, service and quality food options, including made-to-order hoagies.

According to information provided by Wawa, the chain plans to open 7 to ten stores in Baldwin and Mobile counties over the next three to four years. It says that each involves an investment of about $7.5 million and will employ about 35 associates.