ALTOONA, Pa. -- Plans by the Sheetz convenience store chain to build eight stores in Wake and Johnston counties in North Carolina could substantial change the c-store--and the foodservice--landscape in the area known as The Triangle, according to a report in the News & Observer.
It can be hard to find full meals at many Triangle c-stores, where most food is packaged snacks, the newspaper reported. Only a few stores have small grills or attached restaurants.
But the Altoona, Pa.-based chain of c-stores wants to change that in the next year or so with locations in Wendell and at McGee's Crossroads set to open early next year. The company already has four stores in Wake and Durham counties.
The 6,500-sq.-ft. c-stores will be among the area's largest, and some will have drive-thru windows and car washes, according to the report. All Sheetz stores are open 24 hours. Each employs an average of 45 people.
In addition to gasoline, snacks, cigarettes and drinks, each Sheetz store has an espresso bar and a menu of made-to-order food, including burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, wraps and salads.
One of the Triangle's dominant convenience store operators, Cary, N.C.-based The Pantry, has also added food in recent years, namely sandwiches and fresh fruit snacks at its Kangaroo Express stores. Sheetz hopes to compete with bigger stores and more menu items.
"That's our goal, to sell food," Augustine said. "We think that's what differentiates us from the typical convenience stores in North Carolina. We don't know what to call ourselves, really."
Sheetz officials like the large pieces of available land in suburban parts of the Triangle.
"We're just trying to grow out from Raleigh," Steve Augustine, a spokesperson for Sheetz, told the newspaper. "We're more of a rural operator than an inner-city operator. We do really well where we have two state roads that come together."
In addition to the McGee's Crossroads and Wendell sites, Sheetz is seeking permits and approvals for sites in West Raleigh, Wake Forest, Morrisville, Clayton, Smithfield and Cleveland, N.C.
"Those aren't really done deals," Augustine said. "We're going through our due-diligence phase."
The new stores are part of an ambitious expansion plan--as previously reported in CSP Daily News--for the family-owned company, which has nearly 500 stores, including 30 in North Carolina.
"We're going to build 30 [stores] in 2012 in six states," Augustine said. "A third of our growth is targeted for North Carolina."
The company is also eyeing Orange and Durham counties, but no new stores have been announced there yet.
"Those are active markets for us, but we don't have anything in the permitting process," Jamie Gerhart, a Raleigh real-estate site selector for Sheetz, told the paper.
Earlier in the summer, Sheetz announced that it hopes to open a distribution center in the Triangle or Triad by 2014. The company will either buy a building or build one, with at least 200,000 square feet for warehousing, offices and a bakery.
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