Thursday, June 14, 2012

Wawa vs. Dollar Store

Media Planning Commission reviews Wawa plans
The plans and drawings for a Super Wawa in Media have been out for sometime, but recently Linn Architects made a presentation to the Media Planning board to give further detail.  One of the objectives with the presentation was to see if there was interest and enthusiasm for such a project on the corner of Providence Rd. and Baltimore Pike (Behind the Starbucks). This issue will have a long way to go before any decisions are made, but this is a property that could also be used for a dollar store or offices. 



38 comments:

  1. I have no interest in a dollar store in this location. It will have an impact on deals. Also if there was a super wawa that will surely put the gas stations in the area out of business. I am all for a super wawa but we need to consider what would replace the gas stations that go out of business.

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  2. I have no interest in a dollar store in this location. It will have an impact on deals. Also if there was a super wawa that will surely put the gas stations in the area out of business. I am all for a super wawa but we need to consider what would replace the gas stations that go out of business.

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  3. isn't the gawdy American Jewelers "We Buy Gold" store enough to draw trash to the borough?

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  4. Please all support the WaWa! I would love open space and a touristy art center, etc. too. But I can't afford the property, so it's not going to happen. Many around town are trying to increase tourism, and a clean, friendly place to stop after getting off the blue route is imperative. Gas stations have always lived together, since people will pull into the one on the side of the street they are driving.

    No dollar store, uggghhhh.

    WaWa is a wonderful, historic, local company that provides steady, well paying jobs to our community. The headquarters is just up the street, where Abraham Lincoln himself would travel to. The employees loooove WaWa so much, they get married at Red Roof. The wood family has been doing business in Delvo, before Delco existed.

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  5. Is the Dollar Store option a joke? I hope? Welcome to Media - America's First Fair Trade Town. Sell your Gold/ get some cash. Shop at the Dollar Store. Stay at the Raven! That intersection/ area needs to be developed in an intentional way that considers our community + visitors. Linn has done a terrific job on other borough projects, I'd like to see drawings of the proposed Wawa.

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  6. Oh my god PLEASE NO DOLLAR STORE!!! Seriously, I agree with the previous comments: that HORRID American Jewelers is TRASHY ENOUGH! Who thought THAT was a good idea? Its so gaudy! Its truly an embarrassing entry way into the borough. A DOLLAR STORE would be enough to make me consider moving. Seriously, Media, can't we do better???

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  7. Love this Wawa project. Media, Pa. is the home town of Wawa (technically Middletown) so it makes sense that Wawa should bring their A game to this site. Hope that the building will go right up to the State street sidewalk with a front entrance. In that way it will have a classic urban village feel as opposed to being an island in a giant parking lot.

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  8. The problem with a WAWA in that location is the traffic that it will bring. Between the trolley, the intersection of baltimore pike and providence road, it will be the perfect storm of constant traffic and congestion. The traffic at Starbucks is a perfect example, and WAWA will bring in ten fold the traffic. Not only do towns people have trouble with navigating through that intersection, the trolley and who has the right away, wait until visitors from out of town try to get in and out of those intersections; if that hotel is ever built on Beatty.

    I'm all for bringing new business to Media, but not if it makes traffic unbearable which in turn will turn people away to come to Media. Putting a WAWA at that corner will not put other gas stations out of business, it will bring competition; hence lower prices...hopefully.

    The one thing Media does not need is a dollar store. Who wants to drive into a town and the first two stores you see is a cheap gold jewelery store and a dollar store. Just saying. If there has to be a dollar store, the blockbuster is vacant. Nothing ever lasts there anyway....remember boston chicken, little Caesars.

    As long it's not another bank...

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    1. Couldn't agree more - a super Wawa would bring in more traffic to an already overloaded intersection

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  9. Wawa, yes please! And maybe they can buy up the Starbucks building (if Media Real Estate doesn't already own it) and incorporate a new Starbucks (or get rid of it totally and replace it with a new 7 Stones or Burplap & Bean location!!) into the design/parking lot. That whole corner/intersection of Media is horrifying, and is the welcome mat to our beloved town! We surely can do better, and SHOULD! Wawa would be perfect since the other 2 Media locations are congested/small, and they ARE after all a local business. I would MUCH rather have a Super Wawa (and would love to see the local BP put out of business...we should all be boycotting them anyway!) than any number of other things, including a godforsaken dollar store!!? We have Deals, thank you very much, and as someone above said, yes: Welcome to Media, America's First Fair Trade Town...now, make your first stop our brand new Dollar Store!! NO THANK YOU.

    Wawa, yes please! And while we're at it, maybe we can finally make the new hotel happen for real. As much as its neighbors do not want it, I'm sure we all agree that Media is in desperate need of a hotel! And, I think with proper planning the traffic issues with both of these new potential developments, that it won't be too bad and will only add to the appeal and richness of our town.

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    1. Proper planning, as in, not allowing this to proceed.

      No amount of planning will get around the fact that area will be much more congested.

      Starbucks is the only good thing to happen to that corner in ten years...........go ahead and get rid of it.........and you see another gold buy out.

      Media is not that big. We don't need this.

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    2. I'll take it, thanks!

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    3. A Super Wawa really isn't the answer - introducing more traffic to that area seems like a big mistake - have you been through there in morning or afternoon rush hour? It's already bad enough.

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  10. I agree with Media Maven! Another 7 Stones at the entry way of Media?? YES PLEASE!!!!!

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    1. Sometimes stopping in town on the way out of town is inconvenient...though I try to avoid Starbux like the plague!! Envisioning a good, local coffee shop with better parking/access! :)

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  11. 7 Stones Cafe as a gateway to Media? You mean a place where tattooed people loaf around and compliment each others multiple body piercings? In that case, a dollar store would be marginally better and at least serve a purpose.

    A Wawa can work at this location.

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    1. Quite possibly one of the most judgmental, mean-spirited, ignorant comments I've seen in a while...why the hate @Anonymous? Did you really think the Media Inn, flanked by the Providence Motel and The Raven, was classy? Do you think that Starbucks and a "We Buy Gold!" business is a nice welcome to Media? If so, and a locally-owned cafe that is patronized by ALL kinds of people is offensive to you, then perhaps you've picked the wrong town to live in.

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    2. I have seen Tedman, the owner of this blog, at 7 Stones countless times. Last time I checked he isn't covered in tattoos or piercings, and as far as I could tell he wasn't "loafing around"...someone's got some serious issues.

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  12. Please no dollar store! Isn't it bad enough that the "Welcome corner" at Baltimore Pike and Providence Rd. has that awful "we buy gold" store with the neon sign giving a terrible impression of Media???

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  13. OH Anonymous 3:49, you are sooo funny. How about MORE LAWYERS! Hooray for suits! Lame.

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  14. I agree with an earlier point: while we're at it let's raze the Starbucks building along with the BP station. Would have a clean slate to develop the whole site. I know it's easier said than done. By the way, I like historic adaptive reuse, but of an Exxon gas station?? Maybe the Hampton secretly wants to build at Baltimore & Providence.

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  15. Why would you want to put BP out of business? That's just rude. What have they done to you? Complete ignorance.

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    1. Um, you are REALLY asking that question?? Does The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (aka BP Oil Spill) ring any bells? It was only one of the worst oil disasters in history. Talk about ignorance.

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    2. That whole disaster thing was to sell media.

      Pentagon fined BP zero dollars. So how big a deal was it?

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    3. @Anon 6:06 Really??? How big a deal was it?? Maybe you should do your homework and then comment on things like this. It was, and still is, a huge deal! Wow--conspiracy theorist anyone? This was not a ploy to sell media!!?!

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    4. They sell us oil and some spilled.
      The rest is speculation.
      Who cares anyway?
      Twas a safety issue. Profit triumphs over logic. In the corporate creed. Always.

      A new super Wawa is first a safety issue.
      I saw one on route 1 at Stoney Bank Rd.
      It looks nice on a four lane highway with a light for people leaving the Wawa and one entrance.

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  16. How about neither a dollar store or a Wawa? Haven't we had enough with cheapness and franchises? How about some high quality locally-owned businesses, selling meaningful things?

    Does America's first "Fair Trade" town really want either one of these stores that is full of sweatshop junk and junk food and plastic? Or is calling itself a "Fair Trade" town just clever marketing without the actual ethic to back it?

    No cheap junk stores. No franchises.

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    1. Wawa is a local business (not a franchise).

      And, I'm sure many of us who do understand and support Fair Trade principles still need to buy gas and Wawa items (I mean, we all need the paper, a midnight hoagie or a soft pretzel every now and then!).

      I'm not sure that more "high quality local-owned businesses, selling meaningful things" would serve the community or its visitors more than Earth & State already does. And by what do you mean "meaningful things"?

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    2. Wawa is not a franchise. And, it is locally-owned.

      And by what do you mean "meaningful things"? That's subjective.

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  17. A super wawa at that location would create more traffic.

    I don't need extra traffic in that part of town.

    I also don't think a town of five thousand residents needs a super wawa.

    I've lived here for thirty years and extra people in town with extra places to shop has not benefited myself in the past five years.

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    1. Go to all Super Sundays, your town is lots of fun. WAWA is a local business near Media. Why not a super WAWA. Many in my state, and I use them all the time. I love to go to Deals when I am in your town. Dollar stores are overated, use the store that has been there for you.

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    2. I think the congestion/traffic issue is going to be an issue regardless of what happens on this corner...because it already IS an issue there. And, as far as a Wawa creating more traffic, that's not going to happen: it's not a destination (like, say Trader Joe's or a restaurant), it's a place people stop (a "convenience" store and gas station) as they are passing through town.

      This is an opportunity to start with a clean(er) slate and use some real problem solving skills and brilliant engineering to get it right (or at least better than it is now). If the access to the Starbucks location was only through the same place as the new development (Wawa, if that's what ends up there) that would relieve a TON of congestion! That little parking lot is a joke...it's tiny and has 2 ways in/out...if those were sealed off and the entrance was in the back it would make a HUGE difference.

      And, one last point: As far as the "town of 5,000 not needing a super Wawa", this would not only serve residents but visitors and people passing through.

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    3. This town has a Wawa.
      That serves the town and visitors passing through.

      So why do we need another?

      Ain't nuttin cleaner than open space bro!

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    4. I agree about the open space...but we all know that Media Real Estate is not going to turn this into a park!

      As for having another Wawa, the 2 the exist have small/inconvenient parking lots and don't sell gas. It seems to me that the other 2 locations could then serve as the "local" stores while a larger one could serve residents as they leave town and people passing through.

      I guess I imagine that most of the other alternatives (More offices? Another bank? Dollar store and nail salon?) would not serve the town or its visitors as well as the proposed "Super Wawa" and we all know that SOMETHING is going in there (MRE isn't interested in preserving open space or building an art gallery or visitor center...they wouldn't make them enough $$).

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  18. Three things:

    1) Dollar Store doesn't buy and develop land. They rent. (If they wanted to move to Media, they could start with the old Blockbusters.)

    2) Retail is retail, as far as zoning is concerned. You don't get to pick the tenants. (And, even if you did, there's no guarantee what's going to be there in twelve months time.) Which means:

    3) "Dollar Store" is nothing but scaremongering to make Super Wawa a more attractive option in comparison. [Psychologists call that 'anchoring'].

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  19. Yeah, if a dollar store wants to come to the area, they should take over the old Bolckbuster location. By the way, not all dollar stores are cheesy. Dollar Tree fancies itself as an upscale dollar store. They look down their noses on Family Dollar and Dollar General. Just sayin.

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  20. From the architectural rendering on the Delco Times article - it looks like the new Wawa building would front on State Street; with the pumps in between State St. and Baltimore Pike; and entrances off of State Street, Providence Road, and Baltimore Pike. If this is the case, it seems like traffic might not be that bad. At least, having three entries/exits would enable traffic to egress in more convenient directions.

    I think "Anonymous June 14, 2012 11:55 AM" is right about trying to position the building in a way that promotes pedestrian friendly interaction. Fronting the building right on State Street might actually help anchor the pedestrian scale of that end of Media. If someone could actually fix the sidewalks between Providence and Radnor, it would tie the Wawa very nicely to the other businesses on State St. Hopefully I won't get run over on my way across the 3rd St. Bridge ;) For what I’m getting at, check this out: http://t.co/fx8jiNN8

    I think it's funny that some people are fantasizing about tearing down the Starbucks/Pawn Shop. It's not up for debate. Although, hopefully extra parking at Wawa would help alleviate the pathetically undersized Starbucks lot.

    Maybe a Wawa would also help kill the Getty/Gumbo station once and for all? I’m not sure who will want to pay to remove the underground tanks and remediate the site, but Baltimore Pike deserve better than dirty hulking relics like this.

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  21. What is Wawa Customer Satisfaction Survey?

    Customers reviews and feedbacks means a lot to the company, as the company wants to grow its business and now its really tough to survive in the market. So the company established and came up with www.mywawavisit.com to know about the services provided are really


    Wawa Customer Satisfaction Survey

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