Sheetz to Open North Carolina Distribution Facility by 2014

ALTOONA, Pa. -- Convenience store retailer Sheetz Inc. plans to open a large North Carolina distribution facility by 2014. According to the News & Observer, Sheetz will begin searching for a location in the next six months. The new distribution center is expected to meet or exceed 200,000 square feet and will create about 200 jobs.

Whether Sheetz buys an existing site or builds a new one has yet to be determined. The company is seeking state and local incentives to help pay for the project, the newspaper reported.

CEO Stan Sheetz told the News & Observer that the chain's new distribution center would be located in a place easily accessible to North Carolina's Triangle and Triad areas, where most of Sheetz' stores in the state are being located.

Sheetz currently operates 394 convenience stores, including 30 in North Carolina. As CSNews Online reported earlier this week, the retailer is expanding rapidly in both North Carolina and West Virginia, and expects to hit 500 stores in three years. Some 40 percent of the chain's new stores going forward will open in North Carolina. The company opened its first store here in 2004.

"We're serving all of our stores from our Pennsylvania facility, so we will save a huge amount in transportation costs [by opening a North Carolina distribution center]," Sheetz told the newspaper. "Every single store gets a delivery every day, even on Christmas. That's why we do it ourselves, because no one else would do that."

Sheetz' new North Carolina distribution facility will also serve southern Virginia and West Virginia.