ALTOONA, Pa. -- Sheetz Inc.'s expansion plans for North Carolina include opening a large distribution facility by 2014 to serve its increasing collection of convenience stores, according to a report by The News & Observer. The distribution facility also will serve stores in southern Virginia and West Virginia, the report said.
"We're serving all our stores from our Pennsylvania facility, so we will save a huge amount in transportation costs," CEO Stan Sheetz told the newspaper. "Every single store gets a delivery every day, even on Christmas. That's why we do [image-nocss] it ourselves, because no one else would do that."
The chain will begin looking for a location during the next six months, in a place that makes it easy to reach the Triangle and Triad, where most of its stores in this state are concentrated, he said.
Sheetz will either buy an existing building, or build new, with at least 200,000 square feet to hold a distribution center, office facility and bakery, said the report.
The company expects to seek local or state incentives to help pay for the project, which will create about 200 jobs. "You'd be crazy not to," he added. "It's a positive thing for North Carolina."
The company has 394 stores, with more than half in Pennsylvania. With a goal of 500 stores in three years, Sheetz is making North Carolina and West Virginia its top markets for expansion.
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In North Carolina, most of the new stores will be in the Triangle and Triad, Jamie Gerhart, a Raleigh, N.C.-based real-estate site selector for Sheetz, told the paper. The chain is aiming to open up to 10 Triangle stores during the next two years, said the report.
"We want to put stores on all of the major arteries down there," Stan Sheetz said. "We want people to recognize our name and look for our stores."
One under construction in Henderson is expected to open this fall. The chain also has an agreement with a landowner along N.C. 42 in Clayton, but still needs necessary permits and approvals, Gerhart said.
"The Triangle is still a new market for us, and it's important we keep feeding it" to build brand awareness through word of mouth and to spread out distribution costs, Gerhart added.
The chain opened its first North Carolina store in 2004 and has more than 30 locations, including stores in Raleigh, Durham, Morrisville, Zebulon and Fuquay-Varina. It plans to open 10 more a year in this state during the next three years.
Altoona, Pa.-based Sheetz, a family-owned and -operated convenience store chain with more than $4.5 billion in revenue for 2010 and more than 13,500 employees, operates more than 390 convenience locations throughout Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina. It provides a menu of MTO subs, sandwiches and salads, which are ordered through touchscreen order point terminals. All Sheetz stores are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.For more details on Sheetz, look for the exclusive cover story on Sheetz in the August issue of CSP magazine.
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