According to customers, Wawa is the best convenience store in the country

Let’s get straight to the point and not Circle, K? While most convenience stores are just places to take a quick trip, shell out gas or grab a Sheetz on the go, Wawa is a destination.

People leave their homes just to go to Wawa (in slippers, but still!). They wait in line for hours for stores to open and for free t-shirts (again in slippers, but still!) And die-hard fans make Wawa runs a part of their daily routine (Yes, some of these people wear slippers too).

For decades, Wawa fans have proudly proclaimed that the Delaware County-based convenience store company is the best in the business. But marauding Sheetz fans from western Pennsylvania have tried to insist that their chain is the one supermarket to rule them all.

The cross-state rivalry has fueled discussions, debates and even a documentary, but now there is undeniable evidence that Sheetz fans are dead wrong.

On Tuesday, Wawa ranked first in the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) convenience store study, receiving a higher customer satisfaction rating than any other chain — including Sheetz, which ranked fifth.

The study was based on 5,710 email surveys to randomly selected customers. It’s the first time that the ACSI — which measures customer satisfaction in 40 industries, from breweries (very popular) to the U.S. Postal Service (not so much) — has analyzed the convenience store sector.

ACSI recently identified convenience stores as an industry where understanding the customer experience is important due to growing competition and diversification, a spokesperson said.

As fuel and tobacco sales decline, chains that offer high-quality food options, merchandise and rewards programs are seeing the highest customer satisfaction, says the study, which cites Wawa’s “hoagies” several times. The convenient opening hours and locations of the stores were also an important factor for customer satisfaction.

Customers rated convenience stores on a scale of 0 to 100, with the entire industry receiving an overall score of 76 (in comparison, full-service restaurants have the highest overall ACSI score at 84, while subscription TV services have the lowest at 70 have).

Wawa’s total score was 82, followed by QuikTrip of Oklahoma (81), Buc-ee’s of Texas and Murphy USA of Arkansas (tied for third and fourth with 80), and Casey’s General Stores and Sheetz of Iowa (tied). fifth and sixth at 79). Shell, headquartered in England, came in last with a score of 74, and the country’s largest convenience store chain, 7-Eleven, headquartered in Texas, was just above it with a score of 75.

Regionally, Wawa beat Sheetz in the Northeast but finished second to Buc-ee’s in the South. In the Midwest, QuikTrip and Kwik Trip (that has to be a long shot) took first and second place, and in the West, 7-Eleven and Circle K are the top two convenience stores, according to the ACSI study.