The wife of one of the men called them the “Wawa cronies”. They can be found hanging outside the Wawa weeknights at Baltimore Pike and Bishop Avenue in Clifton Heights, writes Kevin Tustin for Delaware County News Network.

Most are retirees with blue-collar backgrounds, a number of them veterans. They do nothing more than drink coffee, smoke cigarettes and shoot the breeze.

The conversations vary from the horses that used to drop off fruits in South Philadelphia to the prevalence of cable news networks and fake news.

The “Wawa Cronies,” just want an open space to air their open thoughts. They don’t need the bar or the Denny’s. Oh, and they have an unofficial mascot in a dog named Pooch.

“You get a better education here,” said Tony, the man who started it all 15 years ago.

The conversations were meaningful, and it replaced the online bickering on social media where being right replaces the need to listen, to understand.

“Wawa is the last vestige of a small store in the county,” noted local comedian and author Nick Kupsey, who tackled Wawa’s culture in the book “The Five People You Meet in Wawa.”

Read more about the Wawa group here.

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