The spanking new Royal Farms on Greenbelt Road (between the Honda dealer and the American Legion) has really opened, after several soft and official opening dates were announced and then changed. So I missed those, but stopped by a couple days later.

It should be fully operational today (24 hours a day, 7 days a week), with opening problems solved. (Two days ago they ran out of gas because the supplier didn’t know they’d opened and gas was being pumped!) 

Now I’d always thought of Royal Farms as just like Wawa – a 7-Eleven, but larger. But when news of a Greenbelt location began to spread, people were telling me how excited they were about Royal Farms chicken. (As a pescatarian, I wouldn’t know.)

I should have guessed from the signage alone that their chicken is a BIG DEAL.

Inside, it doesn’t look like any Wawa I’ve ever seen. The hot food counter is so dominant, it looks more typical of a fast-food place, where people eat in or take dinner home for the family.

(Sorry to say, though, it doesn’t offer the variety of food and snacks that Wawa does.)

Not everyone is thrilled

This is Greenbelt, where everything gets discussed on the local Facebook groups, and in person, too. So I’ve heard anger about “another gas station” going in, especially because it involved the removal of trees.

I also hate to see trees go down, but they do have a huge number of new plants already installed, especially designed to manage stormwater, and I’m hoping to learn more about it.

But oh, the convenience! The place is a 15-minute walk from my home in Old Greenbelt and right next door to my car repair shop, so may stop in sometime.

Here’s how Royal Farms’ press release describes it: “This location will feature a gas station with sixteen fueling positions and operate 24 hours and 365 days a year to service all convenience, food, and fuel needs.”

Who else isn’t thrilled with Royal Farms, at least so far? Supporters of the Greenbelt News Review, our historic and distinguished weekly newspaper. They (and that includes me) urge Royal Farms and other large national companies (like Honda) to support the community by advertising in the GNR, just like small local businesses do, regularly. There’s no better or more visible way to support the community that they hope will support them!

About Royal Farms

Job-hunting? From its press release:

Royal Farms offers competitive pay, medical and dental insurance, a 401(K)-retirement plan, opportunities for advancement, flexible schedules, vacation time, and our employee store discount.

And from Wikipedia, things I didn’t know:

Royal Farms is a privately owned chain of convenience stores headquartered in Baltimore, Md. The company operates more than 200 stores throughout Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina.

Royal Farms opened its first store in 1959 in Baltimore, which remains where the company’s headquarters are based.