This Is NJ’s Best Convenience Store, New Poll Says

NEW JERSEY - Which convenience store is the fan favorite across the Garden State?

It’s Wawa by a landslide, according to a new Monmouth University poll released Friday.

When asked their favorite convenience store — Wawa, 7-Eleven or QuickChek — half of 801 New Jersey respondents opted for Wawa, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.

Fifteen percent of pollsters said 7-Eleven was their favorite, as opposed to 14 percent who opted for QuickChek. 10 percent selected another convenience shop for the poll, which was conducted over telephone from February 29 to March 4.

“It wasn’t that long ago when you wouldn’t even have heard of Wawa north of the Raritan River,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, who worked his way through college at a Wawa store in Pennsylvania. “It appears to be taking over the entire state, although 7-Eleven is holding its own in New Jersey’s cities.”

Wawa’s cult following seems to be strongest in South Jersey, where 79 percent of South Jerseyans choose it as their favorite. 61 percent of Central Jerseyans also opted for the iconic Pennsylvania-based store.

But in North Jersey, Wawa just edges out 7-Eleven 31 to 24 percent as this region’s favorite convenience store.

“The close results in North Jersey are actually driven by a large split in urban and suburban opinion there,” Monmouth University said in a release, adding that, in the northern region’s cities and urban centers, 7-Eleven won customers over (38 percent), followed by Wawa (25 percent) and QuickChek (19 percent).

Wawa and 7-Eleven have at least twice as many locations in New Jersey as QuickChek, the polling institute added.