ALTOONA, Pa. -- Sheetz Inc., known for its large gas stations and convenience stores with fresh, made-to-order foodservice, has just opened its 500th and is planning its expansion into urban markets with a new store model--one without gasoline pumps, and which focuses on higher-margin sales of food and beverages, Dave Woodley, the company's executive vice president of sales and marketing, told The Tribune-Review.
"Our platform has obviously changed from a convenience store to more of a restaurant feel," he said.
Because of channel blurring among convenience stores, quick-service restaurants (QSRs) and fast-casual restaurants, "growing our food and beverage business [has become] more and more important to us," said Woodley. "Cigarettes and tobacco have matured and gas has matured. So food and beverage has become a much bigger part of our mix because of that."
He discussed Sheetz's growth and expansion plans, including adding its first fuel-free convenience stores, which would allow the company to enter urban markets where it hasn't had a presence.
"We just opened a site in West Virginia, which is a fuel-free site, right on West Virginia University," he said. "It has a big food and beverage presence, and it has a grocery store component as well. We have another one already signed … in State College, Pa. It's something that we have been planning for probably the last three years."
(Click here to view a slideshow of the WVU Sheetz store in Morgantown, W.Va.)
He added, however, that "the current [gas station] model we have today is tough to take into an urban setting, so [fuel-free stores give] us an opportunity to expand our model and move into a more urban setting. It's not necessarily going to be all college."
He said that Sheetz has been looking at more sites, but "a number is hard to define for us because it will depend on getting the right site and in the right area. It's taken us three years to get where we are with these two."
Altoona, Pa.-based Sheetz has more than $6.9 billion in revenue and operates 500 convenience stores throughout Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina. The stores offer fresh food such as Made To Order (MTO) subs, sandwiches, burgers, salads, appetizers, breakfast sandwiches and more. They also feature MTGo! Ready-to-eat foods and Shweetz Bakery doughnuts and muffins, along with Sheetz Bros. Coffeez, a full-service espresso and smoothie bar where customers can order hand-made specialty coffee drinks including lattes, cappuccinos and mochas--hot, frozen or iced.
Click here to read the full Tribune-Review interview.
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