Hundreds of Wawa fans screamed and danced as the first Central PA Wawa store in Middletown opened in Sheetz territory Thursday, writes Stephanie Farr for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Wawa fans were there before dawn, lining up at 4:30 AM to witness the store opening, within eyeshot of a Sheetz store a mere .3 miles away.

The territorial integrity of both stores was dutifully maintained by a CVS that stood between them.

But Wawa did make its presence known.  Hand-clapper noisemakers were given away along with Wawa T-shirts as music filled the parking lot.

Fans showed up in Wawa-run outfits—pajama pants, Crocs and Philadelphia Eagles shirts.  When the store opened at 8 AM, the line wrapped around the building.

The first official customer was Amanda Shull, 39, of Camp Hill, who fell in love with Wawa while attending college in Philadelphia.

Chris Haynes, 23, an Upper Darby native, and a recent Penn State graduate who was on the Penn State Harrisburg men’s basketball team, described himself as a “Wawa fan living in a Sheetz world.” 

Now that a Wawa has opened in Dauphin County, he’s decided to stick around.

Read more about the Dauphin County store opening and the ongoing Wawa-Sheetz friendly rivalry in The Philadelphia Inquirer.