Wawa line chaning?

In our travels throughout the state (and some of the hits to this blog have revolved around this), people wonder why there are no Wawas in Northern New Jersey. Well, the short answer is that there were (I think). It is hard to find on the web, many a search has resulted in message boards with people debating that there used to be one near the Meadowlands and another one in NE NJ. The most referenced reason for Wawas not being in Northern NJ (at least explanations on the web with no citing) was that: 1) They couldn't compete with 7-11 and Quick Check. 2) One of the reasons some people have wrote or said this is that it is because, they don't sell porrnography or lottery tickets (due to Wawas' Quaker roots). I don't know if the Northern NJ market is more apt to buy lottery tickets or porrnography compared to Southern NJ, but the reasons are unclear and Wawa is not very open to press inquiries. Well, there are rumors that White Twp. in Warren County is talking about building a Super Wawa(a Wawa with a gas station). These huge Wawas seem to be clubbing competition in other ares of the Mid-Atlantic. This would be the furthest north Wawa in the State (and would drastically alter our "Wawa Line". Well, White Twp., being in the Lehigh Valley Metro Area, is a safe bet for Wawa with its home base in the state of Pennsylvania. Let's watch and see if this represents a pattern (I hope so - I'm in Hoboken - no Wawas in sight)!

Here is the map of the furthest north Wawas in the state up until this posting.


View Larger Map

An exerpt from a chapter . . .

Below is a paragraph from our yet-to-be-titled book. This is from my chapter on sports' loyalties in New Jersey.

In Monmouth, which is roughly at the same latitude as Mercer County, the fans are decidedly more North Jersey/ New York. The roads and transit lines whether bus, train or ferry, make the county easily accessible to New York City. Mercer’s transit links it with both cities, but the closer commute is to Philadelphia. Cable and media affect these two counties as well: In nearly all Mercer towns, the local network channels of Philadelphia and New York are on all of the cable plans and while this is mostly true in Monmouth, in some parts of that county, like in Hazlet, there are no Philadelphia channels (Comcast/ Cablevision). The main newspapers in these counties cover mostly all of the teams, but the Times of Trenton and Trentonian in Mercer give slightly bigger headlines to the Philly teams and the Asbury Park Press in Monmouth gives headlines to the boys of New York. And Dunkin Donuts should take note; there are areas in these counties that do not fit the norms for sports’ loyalties. Princeton and West Windsor seem to have more Devils and Rangers’ fans than Flyers, just walk into Dick’s Sporting Goods on Route 1 and look for jerseys. In the panhandle of Monmouth, there are plenty of loyal Flyers’ fans that loathe those northern teams. These central areas of the state showcase the intense rivalries nicely, and many have a 50/50 split of fans. Theo’s Tavern in Hightstown would be a good place to stop the next time the Giants play the Eagles. Pick a side of the bar and cheer loudly.

Trailer is done . . .

. . but my co-producers are procrastinating big time to put it on the web. They're awesome one week and then don't call me for the next. Patience.

Anyway, thought you would enjoy this clip of Bruce Willis (Penns Grove - Salem) and Jon Stewart (Lawrence - Mercer) . . though Salem's county's area code changed from 609 to 856.