Popular convenience store chain Wawa opens in Johnston County, nearly a year after announcement

GARNER, N.C. (WTVD) -- A popular convenience store chain has opened a location in one of North Carolina's fastest-growing counties.

Wawa is now open at NC 42 and Old Drugstore Road in the Cleveland community in Johnston County.

The chain, a staple in the Northeast, particularly in its home state of Pennsylvania, opened its first North Carolina location in May on the Outer Banks.

Wawa plans to build at least 80 stores across the Tar Heel State in the next 10 years.

About 15 of those stores will be in the Fayetteville area.

It appears most of Wawa's footprint in North Carolina will avoid head-to-head competition with another popular Pennsylvania-based chain, Sheetz, which has focused its locations in the central part of the state.