ORANGE PARK – Don’t even think about calling Wawa a convenience store.

Based in the Pennsylvania city of the same name, Wawa opened it first of three Clay County locations on Tuesday at 678 Blanding Blvd. near Orange Park.

The chain doesn’t even refer to their stores as “convenience stores,” instead opting for their coined phrase “Wawa Food Market.” The goal is to operate the stores like a full-scale made-to-order restaurant, offering customers more than bagged chips and bottled soda.

“We’re very excited about being in Jacksonville,” said Cathy Pulos, Wawa chief operating officer. “This is our natural next phase, we always knew we would get here.”

On the outside, Wawa looks like a typical gas station convenience store, but, it’s what’s on the inside that has gained the store a cult following in the Northeast where the chain started as a milk delivery service in 1902.

Wawa still carries typical convenience store items, but at the nucleus of the store is the hot food area where a handful of employees decked out in chef hats and aprons rush through the kitchen preparing food on the spot. The area sidles up to the drink preparation area which provides customers with a full array of hot and cold espresso drinks and customizable smoothies. All of the fresh food items are ordered through a touch screen kiosk system that provides customers with millions of potential flavor combinations for each available item.

“There are so many options, you can choose to indulge or be healthy, all of the food is custom,” said Lori Bruce, Wawa public relations manager.

The stores have been moving from their Pennsylvania headquarters since the first official Wawa Food Market opened in 1964, and came to Florida in 2012. Now fully immersed in Florida population centers, the chain will have an even 140 stores in the Sunshine State going into 2018, but it has already planned at least 30 more next year.

At least three of those 30 will be accessible to Clay County residents with stores planned or under construction at Blanding and Henley, one at Pope and Wells, and a third location planned on the Duval County line at Oakleaf Town Center, all of which will look to open in the latter half of 2018.

The new store on Blanding hosted a media tour Tuesday and a grand opening on Wednesday that featured a ribbon cutting, a hoagie building competition for local fire and police, free food items and giveaways, and charity events such as a check presentation to Feeding Northeast Florida and packing up care packages for deployed soldiers through USO.

After the opening, Wawa hopes to stay involved in local charities, giving away unused food to local food pantries and partnering with local organizations whenever they see an opportunity to use their brand to help make a difference.

The store will offer free drip coffee for its first 10 days of operation with hopes customers will see why they market their coffee alongside their famous hoagies and become lifelong customers.

One lifelong customer, Maryland native Michael Lorditch, has lived in Orange Park for 14 years since leaving his home state. He visits family once a year, but the thing he misses most is Wawa.

“We go up every year and I always buy about $120 worth of coffee to bring back,” Lorditch said. “When I saw they were coming here I contacted them and they’ve been emailing me updates since.”

One of those emails contained an invitation for Lorditch to attend a special Taste of Wawa event Tuesday, the day before the grand opening, as a VIP customer. Lorditch got to talk with Wawa higher-ups, eat free meatballs and soup and sip on his favorite coffee in the world.