Wawa Inc. will open its Jacksonville store and gas station at 9715 Beach Blvd. at 8 a.m. Thursday.
Grand-opening events scheduled for 10 a.m. will include the traditional Hoagies for Heroes hoagie-building competition.
The Greater Jacksonville USO and the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office will compete to build the most hoagies in the traditional Wawa way in 3 minutes and each team will receive $1,000 from Wawa for the charity of their choice.
The store, at northeast Beach and Southside boulevards, will offer free coffee to customers through Nov. 11.
The 6,119-square-foot Wawa gas station and convenience store is the fifth in Northeast Florida, where the Pennsylvania-based chain intends to open up to 40 locations. Sheree Norris is the general manager of the new store, which employs about 40 people.
The first three Northeast Florida Wawa stores and gas stations opened in December. With the new store, four operate in Duval County and one is in Clay County.
At least 20 sites have been identified as Wawa locations in Duval, Clay and St. Johns counties.
The Beach and Southside boulevards store is the chain's 29th to open this year. Wawa, which is privately held, operates more than 790 stores, of which more than 600 sell gasoline, in six states.