One of the newest additions to the Wawa legacy is a new convenience store in Cherry Hill, which is becoming a sort of battleground for three C-store chains.

With seven stores in Cherry Hill, three in Pennsauken, and more on the way in Brooklawn, the Delaware County-based chain has staked its claim in South Jersey against the homegrown alternative, Heritage’s.

But that hasn’t deterred Royal Farms from rolling out plans to build in Magnolia, Gloucester City, Bellmawr, and East Greenwich, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer report by Kevin Riordan.

“We’ve always supported a competitive marketplace,” said Wawa spokeswoman Lori Bruce. “We are different, and specifically in this region, we are proud to have carved out a unique space of our own.”

And fueling the competition is an innate loyalty to a specific brand.

“People have a tremendous loyalty to where they buy their food,” said Rutgers-Camden professor Carol Kaufman-Scarborough. “And there is an emotional connection to certain types of regional foods, such as hoagies and soft pretzels. This loyalty can be extremely difficult to break.”

Read more about the South Jersey C-store battleground in the Philadelphia Inquirer here, and check out previous DELCO Today coverage of Wawa here.