Villagers and other area residents who frequent a popular convenience store chain that recently flooded the Central Florida area with new stores could be facing a big headache.
That’s because Wawa announced on Friday that a large-scale data breach has compromised the payment information of customers who used a debit or credit card at any of its more than 850 locations since March.
Wawa officials sent letters to customers saying they discovered malware that was capable of capturing customers names, card numbers and expiration dates at both the inside pay stations and the gas pumps. They said the breach has been in place since March 4 but did not affect debit card PINs, credit card security codes or driver’s license information that was obtained when verifying age-restricted purchases like alcohol.
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Wawa has flooded the Central Florida market with new stores, largely on the popularity of the chain in the Northeast where many Floridians have lived in the past. The first store located in the local was the Oxford location, at the corner of U.S. 301 and County Road 466. It opened in November 2017 with the promise of other convenience stores to follow.
A somewhat controversial location opened in July at the corner of U.S. Hwy. 27-441 and CR 466. That store displaced the local landmark known as “The Castle,” which was a longtime icon in Lady Lake that was serving as home to Affordable Lock & Security Solutions.
The third area Wawa opened in September at 13535 U.S. Hwy. 441 in Lady Lake, not far from the Sharon L. Morse Medical Building and The Villages Regional Hospital. Like what appears to be the case with all Wawa openings, the store offered free coffee for 10 days and put together a Heroes hoagie-building competition between the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office and The Villages Public Safety Department.
The fourth Wawa in the local area is under construction in Leesburg at the corner of U.S. Hwy. 27/441 and Griffin Road. The location has taken shape and was slated to open by Christmas but it remains to be seen if that goal will become a reality.
Not surprisingly, Wawa also flooded the Ocala market. The chain kicked off its venture into Marion County in September 2018 with an aggressive store plan that included three groundbreakings on the same day. All three of those locations – 3601 East Silver Springs Blvd., 1001 S. Pine Ave. and 3312 W. Silver Springs Blvd. – opened on April 25 to a huge fanfare among area customers.
In May, a fourth Wawa in Ocala at 4025 SW College Road and another opened in Belleview at 5726 SE Abshier Blvd. Both honored the free coffee pledge and have remained busy since first opening their doors for business.
Wawa is a privately held company that began in 1803 as an iron foundry in New Jersey. Toward the end of the 19th Century, owner George Wood took an interest in dairy farming and the family began a small processing plant in Wawa, Pa., in 1902. The milk business was a huge success, due to its quality, cleanliness and “certified” process. As home delivery of milk declined in the early 1960s, Grahame Wood, George’s grandson, opened the first Wawa Food Market in 1964 as an outlet for dairy products. Wawa adopted the Canada goose in flight as its mascot.