Remember when it was trendy to bash Wawa because the bread and meat “wasn’t the same” and they had “lost their focus” and all of this other assorted nonsense? You had people like Russ talking up Sheetz and trying to piggyback on this corny anti-Wawa wave because the contrarian thing was cool for about five seconds.

Wawa is king and will always be king, and now there’s a new location opening near the sports complex.

From Stephanie Farr at the Inquirer:

Fans of Philly sports, beer, and Wawa rejoice (as if you needed a reason to): Wawa on Thursday is opening its first store within city limits that will sell beer, less than two miles away from the South Philly sports complex.

And it won’t just sell beer, it will feature a “Beer Cave,” which sounds like some magical place where Gritty and the Phanatic will retire to someday, but is actually just a walk-in beer cooler. The store will be the sixth Wawa in Pennsylvania to sell beer, along with locations in Chadds Ford, Middletown, Emmaus, Blakeslee, and Horsham. (A Wawa at 38th and Spruce Streets in University City once sold beer, but discontinued alcohol sales in the 1990s.)

The store location is 2600 Penrose Avenue, at the base of the Platt Bridge. That’s not exactly on the way to the stadiums, unless you’re coming up 95 North and wanna take that exit before swinging up Pattison Ave:

Anyway, big party at this spot on Thursday. The Wawa president is gonna be there with Union captain Alejandro Bedoya and they’re gonna lend their support to the 2026 World Cup bid. We want Lincoln Financial Field to host games when the tournament comes here in a few years, so there’s a big campaign to get the region energized, or whatever.

But like I’ve always said, you can never have enough Wawa. Don’t listen to Kyle and Russ and all of the haters. Every time a new Wawa is built, an angel gets its wings.