Sheetz to open 50 stores in Ohio by 2025

Sheetz ismoving full COLUMBUS— steam ahead with its $250 million rollout in central Ohio.

TheAltoona,Pennsylvania-based restaurant, convenience store and gas station company saidMonday that it is planning about 50 stores in central Ohio by the end of 2025.

It has broken ground on stores in Obetz and Delaware, the first of more than a dozen in central Ohio that Sheetz is scheduled to open by the end of 2021.

Beginning in2022, thecompany plans toopenabout adozen stores a year through 2025.

Eventually, the retailer says it will have about 1,500 employees in central Ohio, or 30 per store. The typical store will be about 6,000 square feet.

“We’re not coming in lightly, that’s for sure,” saidTravis Sheetz, thecompany’spresidentandchief operating officer.

Currently, Sheetz has 43 stores inOhio, primarilyinthe Cleveland, Akron and Youngstown areas. Overall, the company has 608 stores across Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, WestVirginia and Maryland.

Stores planned for central Ohio figure to be located along interstates and major state routes.

Those unfamiliar with Sheetz often assume it is just a gas station, Travis Sheetz said, but it’s really more of a restaurant that also sells gasoline.

“They don’t understand the made-to-order food program,” he said.

Sheetz offers a menu ranging from burgers to pizza to breakfast food along with milkshakes, smoothies, lattesandother drinks. About half of the stores planned forColumbuswillhavedrive-thrus.