Sheetz plants flag in Wawa country
Pa.-based chains once avoided invading each other’s turf, but growth demands competition
Convenience stores have long snagged prime spots in the Lehigh Valley. Think of Schoenersville Road in the Bethlehem area: Two miles in either direction from the Route 22 exit, drivers can seek out gas, coffee, snacks and supplies from five spots.
And while some experts think the Valley convenience store landscape is maxed out, that hasn’t stopped chains from seeking out more customers.
“Sheetz and Wawa are not opening stores in the same town because it’s an ego battle,” said Jeff Lenard, spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores in Alexandria, Virginia. “It’s because they think the community can support both stores.”
Two Pennsylvania-based companies, Wawa and Sheetz, are at the center of the area’s convenience store competition. Wawa, with 22 locations in the Lehigh Valley, plans to add five stores in the next two years, spokeswoman Lori Bruce said. That includes stores already announced for Allentown, Emmaus and Upper Saucon Township. Sheetz, which has three Valley stores, will open its fourth at the Chrin Commerce Centre off Route 33 in Palmer Township.
Other companies also are looking for opportunities to add stores in the area.
“The business-friendly environment combined with an amazing workforce and customer base, excellent road networks, and tremendous growth in areas like technology and manufacturing make this a great investment,” Wawa’s Bruce said.
Sheetz spokesman Nick
Ruffner agreed, adding, “Our strategy is to expand in the markets where Sheetz already has store locations, such as the Lehigh Valley.” That’s despite its president and CEO, Joe Sheetz, saying in a 2017 article that the Altoona company had no plans to expand into eastern Pennsylvania, long dominated by Wawa.
More than convenient
What’s driving the convenience store proliferation? Beyond keeping consumers and their cars fueled — with snacks and gasoline, respectively — other factors come into play, according to Lenard and others.
“We are at a point where people seek out food from a convenience store,” Lenard said. Two decades ago, he said, it was most consumers’ last choice for food.
“Or it was not certainly a destination,” he said.
But now chains such as Sheetz and Wawa are among those that Lenard said promote their food first, then offer gas and convenience. He said convenience spots fall into three categories: those like Sheetz and Wawa; stores that push gas first, then convenience items; and stores that promote convenience items first, with maybe gas pumps. For younger consumers, particularly millennials, who eat out more than they eat at home, convenience stores are more than a mere convenience, Lenard said.
In the Lehigh Valley, Sheetz and Wawa epitomize the change in convenience stores: Both have created a different picture than the old image of warmed-over hot dogs spinning in a dusty case.
“People want cleanliness; they don’t want the grungy gas station,” said Amy Hawley, a commercial agent with SVN Imperial Realty in South Whitehall Township.
Hawley said people visit convenience stores lured by the gas. “At the same time, it’s what else can I get so I don’t have to make another stop?” she said.
Indeed, as noted in the 2017 article from Keystone Crossroads, Wawa and Sheetz stores are uniformly clean, well-maintained and well-lit, the pit-stop trifecta. Customers can pick up sandwiches, hot food, grab-andgo gourmet snacks and an array of drink options.
Sheetz is a little more lively and fun, with loud pop music and bright red and yellow decor. Everything aligns with the brand — the bakery sells shweetz; sandwiches are subz. And there’s beer and wine; Wawa does not yet sell alcohol in its Lehigh Valley stores.
Wawas are decorated more sedately in browns, greens and yellows, with a giant goose logo visible in the front. (The chain’s name comes from the site of the company’s first milk plant in Wawa, Delaware County; the word is derived from an Indian word for goose.)
It features an enormous variety of coffees along with cold and hot foods, including its hoagies.
Despite being regional chains, both Wawa, and Sheetz rank in the top 25 in Convenience Store News’ Top 100 ranking, according to the number of stores. Wawa, with 842 stores, is ranked 15th, two spots higher than the previous year. Sheetz, which has 588 stores, is ranked 22nd, climbing one spot from last year.
James R. Ogden, chairman of Penn State Lehigh Valley’s Council for Retail and Sales, said the area is saturated with convenience stores, especially given how an economic downturn can affect such businesses, but he noted Sheetz and Wawa have seemed immune to possible slides for a reason.
“They never crossed into each other’s territory,” Ogden said. “But with this growing need for convenience, they are starting to encroach.” That, he said, will mean more competition for consumers’ dollars.
Both chains take advantage of virgin property to build new stores, with stores becoming almost like billboards, said Hawley, the South Whitehall commercial real estate agent.
But how long will they keep adding stores? Commercial real estate broker Steve Cihylik, who has worked on projects with Sheetz, Wawa and another major chain in the Valley, Turkey Hill, said the region is becoming saturated with stores at prime, corner locations.
When Wawa first entered the Valley some 20 years ago, he said, the company “captured some of the best corners in the Valley.”
Cihylik, who is with Hanna Frederick Commercial in South Whitehall, sees companies moving to less prime spots, if the traffic and demographics show there’s a demand.
Ogden said an economic downtown, leading to a decline in consumer spending, could change the companies’ plans. “Instead of buying a submarine [sandwich], they will make it at home,” he said.
Shoppers’ views
For now, though, Wawa and Sheetz stores barely a half mile apart along Schoenersville Road north of the Route 22 exit were doing brisk business during visits on a couple of random days recently.
Nearly everyone at Wawa preferred the store noted for its hoagies, coffee and more.
“Definitely Wawa,” said Jacquelyn Youst, holding a cup of joe in her right hand on her way out store at Schoenersville and Stoke Park roads. She, like all customers interviewed in separate stops, were asked several questions, chief among them: Wawa or Sheetz? Or: Sheetz or Wawa?
Youst visits the store several times a day for her fill of caffeine, a snack or other items.
“It’s like my ground zero,” said Youst, who lives and works in Hanover Township, Northampton County, home to the Wawa store she frequents.
While the Wawa was humming during a midweek lunch rush, the same activity level could be observed during a mid-afternoon stop in the Sheetz at Schoenersville and City Line roads. There, several patrons sounded like their loyalties were more divided.
“You know, it’s a tossup,” said Damien Howland, pausing from finishing his Sheetz cheeseburger and sipping a Red Bull. “Sometimes I get tired of Wawa’s menu and I come back here.
“It depends on how hungry I am and where I’m at,” said Howland, an Allentown trucker.
To Jennifer M. Goodman, convenience stores come down to what she’s in the mood for.
“Wawa has the $1 coffee deals; they’ve got pretzels by the counter,” said Goodman, a supplier quality global director with Avantor on nearby Avenue A in Bethlehem.
“Here, you have your made to order,” she said with a club wrap and giant soda in hand. “I actually prefer the Wawa hoagies, but [at Sheetz] they’ve got more of the fries and hot dogs. It depends on what you’re looking for.”
Travis Miller, manager of the Schoenersville Road Sheetz, said he hears from customers like Goodman who “transition” between the Sheetz and Wawa.
“I’ve got some regulars who used to go there frequently, and now they come here a lot more,” Miller said. “And I’m sure it’s vice versa. But I think people who are loyal to us are loyal to us, and the same goes for them. But there are things that we have that they don’t have, and vice versa.”
Miller pointed to his store’s wine and beer inventory. Six packs of beer fill six coolers; the store moved “bulk beverages” such as 2-liter sodas and milk to accommodate the brews, he said. The store also features a car wash.
When Hurricane Sandy struck in fall 2012, Wawa stayed open, area Manager Maxi Blair said.
“We were open because we knew our customers relied on us,” she said. “A lot of people who are working, they know they can come here for hot coffee and a friendly face.”
Blair and John Iorio, manager of the Schoenersville Road Wawa, said the company also places emphasis on workers’ friendly, smiling service, such as that displayed by checkout clerk Diana Stofanak.
“I know 738 customers by name,” Stofanak said proudly as she rang up customers’ orders.
What is it about the rivalry that’s been unfolding in recent years between the two Pennsylvania convenience chains? Each recognizes their chief competitor, they say, even if they don’t call them by name.
“We definitely know they’re there, and they’re our neighbors, and that’s great to have that healthy competition,” Iorio said.
Iorio’s area has plenty of the competition. On 2 miles of busy Schoenersville Road in the Bethlehem area, the Sheetz and Wawa compete with a Speedway, Taylor Family Fuel & Mini Mart, and another Wawa.
Numerous competitors
Sheetz and Wawa are not the only examples of growth. Yorkbased Rutter’s, which has 75 locations in Pennsylvania and two other states, plans to open near Kutztown in 2020, according to spokeswoman Alison Hummel. Its nearest store is off Route 61, near Interstate 78 in Hamburg.
“We are continuing to look for areas to expand in both the Lehigh Valley and Berks County,” Hummel said.
Turkey Hill “is actively looking at expanding our current fleet of stores” but the chain has no specific plans right now, according to a company spokeswoman.
Allentown hosts the headquarters to two fuel and convenience retail stores ranked in the Top 100, Dunne Manning and CrossAmerica Partners. Dunne Manning operates brands including Uni-Mart and Top Star in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and three other states, while CrossAmerica has Speedway and other stores throughout the U.S., according to its website. Officials with both companies did not return messages seeking requests for interviews.
The National Association of Convenience Stores estimates that in 2018, there were 153,237 convenience stores nationwide, down about 1% from 2017. Pennsylvania ranks ninth, with 4,778 stores.
In January 2018, 7-Eleven Inc. completed acquisition of 1,030 Sunoco convenience stores in 17 states, including Pennsylvania. That could mean change for Sibgha Beig, who for about 15 years has managed the 7-Eleven on Union Boulevard near the Allentown-Bethlehem border.
Beig, whose 7-Eleven is near a Sunoco store, was not sure what would happen with two locations nearby, in an area also home to a Wawa at Airport Road and Union Boulevard and other stores. But she did not sound worried.
“Since I came here, we focus on being a neighborhood market,” said Beig, who on July 11 offered customers free Slurpees and other specials to celebrate “7-Eleven Day” companywide.
As for competition from other stores, Beig and other convenience store managers said it helps keep things fresh.
“I would hate not to have any competition,” she said, “because then life would be boring.”
Morning Call reporter Anthony Salamone can be reached at 610-820-6694 or asalamone@mcall.com.