RaceTrac is entering Ohio as it continues to expand north. The Atlanta-based convenience-store chain received approval of a final development plan on Aug. 14 from the Delaware, Ohio, city council, the city manager’s office confirmed.
The c-store will be located north of U.S Route 36 and state Route 37 in the city, which is north of Columbus, Ohio.
RaceTrac has more than 560 stores, primarily located in Florida, Texas and Georgia, along with locations in Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. Brendan Sexton of RaceTrac, who spoke at an Aug. 2 Delaware planning commission meeting, said the chain was also expanding in Indiana.
“The greater Columbus area is on the move and a natural fit for RaceTrac,” the company told CSP Daily News. “The store design at this location is particularly well suited to serve the needs of small to mid-size fleet drivers and professional drivers with an expanded diesel offering."
- RaceTrac is No. 15 on CSP’s 2023 Top 202 ranking of convenience store chains by store count.
The Delaware, Ohio, site will include a gas station with a 6,008-square-foot c-store, eight fueling islands for passenger vehicles, five fueling islands for larger vehicles and 34 total parking spaces, according to a Delaware planning commission staff report dated Aug. 2. The site sits on about 4.6 acres. The opening date for the store has not yet been announced, RaceTrac said.
When a planning commission member asked about food offerings at the store, Sexton likened RaceTrac to Altoona, Pennsylvania-based c-store chain Sheetz.
“I would benchmark ourselves with Sheetz,” Sexton said. “We don’t have a made-to-order program that’s as robust as them. We’re focused on more of an efficient process where you can come in, get what you need and leave—but we do have a hot food order with items that are prepared fresh in the store.”
Sexton said RaceTrac has a couple other stores in central Ohio that are in various stages of permitting, and some coming to the Indianapolis area, too. The first RaceTrac store in Indiana will open in late fourth-quarter 2023, RaceTrac said, and a second store in the area will open shortly after.
RaceTrac is also opening for the first time in South Carolina. The first two South Carolina RaceTrac stores are under construction in Greenville, and another along I-95, the company said. The stores are expected to open by the end of the year.
RaceTrac also has more than 200 RaceWay-branded gas stations in 11 states operated by franchisees. A new RaceWay c-store will open in first-quarter 2024 in Marion, South Carolina.