Sheetz - History

History

Sheetz, Inc was founded by Bob Sheetz in 1952 when he purchased one of his father's five dairy stores located in Altoona, Pennsylvania. In 1961, Bob hired his brother Steve to work part-time at the store.

In 1963 the second store was opened under the name "Sheetz Kwik Shopper." Five years later, they opened the third store. In 1969, Steve joined Bob in the business as general manager. The brothers planned to expand at the rate of one store per year with a target of seven stores by 1972. In 1972, the company expanded from seven to fourteen stores. One year later, Sheetz added gasoline pumps and introduced self-serve gasoline to Central Pennsylvania.

By 1983, Bob and Steve had opened 100 stores. The following year, Bob retired and handed over the leadership of the company to his brother Steve.

In 1995, Stan Sheetz, Bob's son, became president and Steve assumed the position of Chairman of the Board. To this day, Sheetz maintains a family business with five family members serving on the Executive Committee.

During the mid-1990s, Sheetz also sold It! Cola, the chain's own private-label brand of soft drinks available in cans, bottles, and as fountain drinks. Despite a cult following, the drink was discontinued for unknown reasons and the fountains were replaced with Pepsi products. The chain now has both Pepsi and Coca-Cola products in the fountains, though in older stores with fewer fountain spots available it is still predominantly Pepsi products, with Coca-Cola and Diet Coke as the only Coke-related options.

In 2003, Sheetz opened a concept store in the food court of Hanes Mall in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. This location offered Sheetz' made-to-order foods and fountain beverages in a more traditional fast food layout; it did not function as a convenience store. The store has since closed.

In early 2004, Sheetz opened the world's first "Convenience Restaurant" in Altoona, PA. In December 2004 they began offering the new Sheetz Mastercard PayPass with RFID technology built into the card, and was one of the first retailers of any sector to accept such technology, ahead of McDonald's, Arby's, CVS, and rival 7-Eleven, all of which rolled it out nationally in 2006.

On July 10, 2006 Sheetz became Pennsylvania's second retail chain to offer E85 ethanol-based fuel alternative at the select stations.

Sheetz now has more than 400 locations across six states — Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina — and more than 13,600 employees. All Sheetz stores are company-owned-and-operated. The company has no plans to sell franchises.