Louisville's 2nd Wawa opens on Bardstown Road with free coffee and t-shirts

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville's second Wawa is now open for business.

Crowds began lining up early Friday for the ribbon-cutting and grand opening celebration at the store at 4314 Bardstown Road, just south of Fegenbush Lane. Doors opened at 8 a.m., and the ribbon was cut at 8:30 a.m.

As part of the celebration, the store gave away free t-shirts to the first 250 customers as well as free cups of coffee. The free coffee will be available to anyone through Sept. 7.

It's the second of eight stores planned to open in Kentucky before the end of the year.

Friday's celebration featured first responders taking part in a "Hoagies for Heroes" hoagie-building competition honoring Everyday Heroes.

Floyd Baker, who showed up at 5 a.m., knew exactly what he was going to buy first. "That hoagie sandwich really sold me, so I said 'I'm gonna get out here buy me a hoagie and a frostee.'"

Louisville's first Wawa opened in July on Preston Crossing Boulevard near Okolona.

In the future, Wawa plans to build and open five to eight stores per year in Kentucky, with plans to open more than 40 in total, according to a news release. To build each store, Wawa invests more than $7.5 million to open each store, which employ an average of 35 associates.

Wawa is known for its cheap eats, fresh food and beverage offerings, including coffee, smoothies, hoagies, pizza, burgers, soups and more.

Additional locations planned for the Louisville area include:

5229 Dixie Highway, near Kurz Way in Pleasure Ridge Park
7203 Apple Mill Drive, near the intersection with Outer Loop and Vaughn Mill
12415 Taylorsville Road, near the intersection with Sweeney Lane

The first regional location opened in May on Veterans Parkway in Clarksville, Indiana, as part of the company's expansion from the east coast. Kentucky is the 12th state to welcome Wawa.

Wawa is hiring positions for all the stores it plans to open in Kentucky in 2025. For job information go to Wawa.com/Careers.

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