Great Wawa Massacre Of 2008 Continues

Johnny Goodtimes is reporting that the Wawa at 20th and Chestnut is closing at the end of the month. I’m too lazy to walk five blocks down to see if there’s a sign up or anything, but let’s just assume it’s true.

And let’s assume this is true also: He writes all the Center City Wawas will be leaving when their leases are up — even my beloved Jefferson Hospital location?! — and that Wawa hates us. Well, duh, they’re a business. But why just leave Center City?

Naturally, the twentysomething white people of in and around Center City will not be standing for this business decision travesty, and will no doubt be protesting for the rest of the year. Although 6 of 10 Center City Wawas have closed since 2000, 2/29 will forever be the official start of the Great Wawa Massacre of 2008.

Wawa + Fighting Strippers = Genius

Ha ha, so three strippers got into a fight at a Wawa in the suburbs in the most awesomest story ever:

Police said Katrina Maslakova, 21, of the 400 block of Eighth Street in Lansdale, was cited for public drunkenness and released to a relative. The other two women involved were not charged, police said. According to Chief Chris Engelhart, a physical fight broke out among the women while they were in their car on the way to the Wawa.

Inside the convenience store, an argument erupted again, with all three screaming at one another.

Store employees called police to break it up. “It was probably a stupid thing they were fighting about,” Engelhart said. “They were all drunk, so it doesn’t really even matter what it was about.”

The first officers to arrive on the scene requested backup to help them break up the fight. Engelhart wasn’t sure how the officers knew they were strippers or which establishment they were from.

This is what we’re losing with the closing of Important Wawa Locations. Stripper fights! I can only assume they were fighting over the last bottle of Dr. Zip.

Strippers cause fracas in Hilltown Wawa [Intelligencer]

Wawa Not As Welcome Outside City

While residents of Center City Philadelphia protest the closing of their Wawas, those in the suburbs are fighting a Wawa from moving into their community tooth and nail.

The company wants to open a 5,800-square foot deli and 16 gas pumps in Warminster, but the city’s zoning laws for some reason prevent this from happening. Much like Philadelphia nimbys, the suburban subspecies really doesn’t want anything to change, anywhere, ever:

Longtime Street Road resident Charlotte Payne, who lives near the site, worries the project would bring more traffic to an already congested intersection. Cars have difficulties turning from Newtown Road onto Street Road and often back up 10 deep.

Wawa’s attorney, Tom Hecker, pointed out that the township’s traffic consultant approved Wawa’s traffic report and plan to keep congestion to a minimum. Hecker asked Payne if she had seen this report, to which she replied “I don’t need to look at it. I live there.”

Hey, can’t the company just put some gas pumps on the corner of 20th and Locust and re-open the Dorchester Wawa? I really don’t see any reason why not.

Wawa still a no-go [The Intelligencer]

WawaTF, People: The Vigil Video

Intrepid Reporter Alli Katz — yet another PW employee whose talent I am consistently jealous of — went out to film the Wawa Vigil last night.

The results are up there with Mascot Monday and Milton Street’s casket jam. WawaTF, indeed.

Truly, a lamentable loss for the community. There is a Flickr series here done by djstarr as well. We will never forget.

Wawa Vigil [PW]

Wawa Vigil: TONIGHT! 11 PM!

A reader sends in another protest piece from some website where you can make your own ribbon magnets for your SUV.

Don’t forget, tonight at 11 is the Vigil for the Rittenhouse Square Wawa. I heard about this earlier today and I am now convinced it is the greatest thing ever, even though I’m not totally convinced it is real. Tonight at 11, we shall all stand tall for freedom and Tastykakes. I mean, as long as those Wawa fatcats don’t change the temperature to below 0 with their weather-controlling machines.

Yes, Yes: Wawa Vigil At 11 Tonight

Ahh, yes, the Wawa. Sometime over the weekend the wheels began to turn on the closing of the RIttenhouse Wawa tomorrow. (2/29 NEVER FORGET!)

Despite being a multi-billion dollar corporation, Wawa is a regional chain; instead of inspiring hatred like Starbucks, regional chains are adored by residents of that particular locale. People will argue for hours on ends about how much better Wawa is than Turkey Hill or Sheetz or whatever. (This is true, of course.)

To be fair, it’s a sad state. The mysterious Jerome Nottingham IV gave us a description of the one-stately Wawa in yesterday’s Metro: The Wawa here looks like a Soviet grocery store in the 1980s, filled with empty shelves and customers complaining there’s no mustard for their pretzels. A young man in his 20s tries to order a roast beef sandwich, only to learn the store has run out of roast beef. An ATM screen simply reads ‘out of service.’ It won’t be repaired.” The place is closing tomorrow.

There’s also a Wawa at 20th and Chestnut — as opposed to 20th and Locust — but that one has more homeless people in front of it, though I always found it cleaner. As such, the minor inconvenience has nonetheless inspired a movement so great you’d think the Real World pretended to move out of town!

Yes, there’s a vigil tonight at 11 at the Rittenhouse Wawa.

Update: Whoever the dude is who blogs at The Illadelph — who is also among the Very Angry Wawa Customers but has some good comments as usual — has some extra info from an awesome release of some sort.

It is “not going to disrupt commercial activity in the store — on the contrary, [they] plan to buy up whatever is left, and thank everyone inside for serving [them] all these years — but after indulging in the Wawa goodness, [they]‘re hoping to stage some nice photo opps [sic] out front with signs, maybe some candles, who knows.”

Man, I was kind of hoping people would be tearing shit up, though I do kind of like the idea of protesting Wawa by purchasing a ton of products. Plus if this were my 10th & Walnut location I would probably have organized this myself.

Center City Wawa To Close

Noooo! Kirsten Henri reports the Wawa in the Dorchester is closing by the end of the week! Okay, so the one on Chestnut is about the same distance from the office, and it’s nicer… but by the end of the week, we’re going to have one fewer Wawa than we originally did.

Wawa spokesperson Laurie Bruce says there is no secret plan to close all the Wawas in the city limits without gas stations, despite the rumors. (But of course.) I have to believe the one at 10th and Walnut is safe. It better be, Wawa!

Protip: I usually go to The Foodery (10th and Pine) and the Serv-Rite Deli (10th and Locust) anyway, but neither are open 24 hours.

While You Were Reading This, Somebody Purchased A New HDTV (And A Warranty!) With Your Credit Card

Hey, are you a Commerce Bank customer? Well, whoops, an employee issued personal information to an outside party. The company says a small amount of its 3 million customers were affected.

Of course, even if you avoid that, you might not be able to avoid a credit card skimmer, which was recently installed on a Wawa ATM in Delaware. A skimmer was attached to the ATM’s card reader; it transmitted information to outside parties who then clone the bank cards and withdraw money.

If someone steals your information and all your monty money, though, you can just go and steal somebody else’s. Like a pyramid scheme!

Commerce Bank Warning Customers Of Info. Theft [CBS 3]
Theft devices found on ATMs in Bear Wawa [News-Journal]

Taxi Bandits Strike Center City

A couple of Philadelphia robbers have turned this city into a Michael Mann movie:

Philadelphia police say at least two men are responsible for a wave of robberies and attempted robberies at center city convenience stores during which the perpetrator escaped in the back of a taxicab.

Detectives say in each case the cab driver may have unwittingly helped the bandit. Police speculate that the robbers may have asked cabbies to stop at a store for cigarettes, robbed the store, then hopped back into the cab to continue the trip.

Well, it’s almost like a Michael Mann movie. The cops say it’s two different people doing this scheme, so Center City Wawas are probably a fun place to be for the rest of the week.

Phila. Police Say Robbers Arrive and Leave in Taxicabs [KYW 1060]

Blogicized: Blogs Gone WIld

• Oh no! Frank Fitzpatrick makes an offhand joke about bloggers! An unfunny columnist doesn’t like us, guys? Oh no! Let’s get him! He’s not relevant anymore! And so forth! This is what you’re supposed to do when the mainstream press mentions blogs in a negative light, right? I lost the handbook. [Shallow Center]

• Another side of the baby seal in the Delaware: It this a sign of Philadelphia offering amnesty to seals that could have been clubbed in Canada? Developing! [Badminton Stamps]

• Milkshakes, naah, not that big of a deal. But has Wawa changed its coffee roast? [Life, Family Et Al]

• Congrats to Prep grad Jason Mulgrew, who has approximately 45 projects other than his blog in the oven right now. [Blinq]

• I’ll just pass on this rumor without comment: Did Jay-Z just buy a block of South Kensington? [Philebrity]