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Warrenton Sheetz gets top-to-bottom facelift
A whole new look is in store for the Warrenton Sheetz where workers are adding some space and redoing both the inside and outside of the building. Times-Democrat Staff Photos/Randy Litzinger
Kyle Taracatae, Ken Stewart, Justin Daugherty and Jordan Shauf from Mingle Contracting, Inc. work on the remodeling of the Warrenton Sheetz.
The remodeled Sheetz store will have a brick exterior similar to the one in this photo. Courtesy Photo
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Red-brick veneer will replace white exterior block.
New awnings and signs will supplant the existing ones.
The layout of the store and the kitchen and counters will change to accommodate customers and employees.
Inside and out, the Warrenton Sheetz at Lee Highway and Blackwell Road will be remodeled at an estimated $247,000 to make it look more like the new store model that the Pennsylvania-based company introduced about six years ago.
Besides new fixtures, kitchen equipment, floors and restrooms, the renovation plan includes a new, $45,000 canopy over the pumps.
Work began last month on the store and should be completed in mid-March, said Joe Sheetz, executive vice president of finance and store development.
“We’re attempting to move more food, to look more like fast-food stores than convenience stores,” Sheetz said of the company-wide remodeling effort. “The old ones look nothing like the new ones. This is a branding exercise to look like the new ones.”
The Warrenton store, which opened in 1997, also will be slightly enlarged to 4,378 square feet from 4,183 square feet.
The remodeling drew a range of comments from Tuesday morning commuters.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Paul Fisher, 45, who lives near New Baltimore and works for an IT company in Northern Virginia. “I guess because of the [space] they’re limited in what they can do.”
But Dan Hilleary, 55, of Warrenton couldn’t care less about the changes.
“It doesn’t impact me,” said Hilleary, the chief financial officer for a Washington, D.C., trade association that represents the fruit and vegetable industry. “Living in town, I come for the gas and coffee. I don’t care if the bricks red or white.”
A family-owned business, Sheetz has 408 stores in six states, including 58 in Virginia and two in Fauquier.
The company began remodeling old stores last year, completing about 10.
“It was a test year,” Sheetz said in a phone interview from the company’s headquarters in Altoona. “Just working through the kinks of how to do it, because you’re trying to keep open during the process.”
He said the company plans to remodel 160 to 170 stores in the next several years.
The remodeling costs will range from $250,000 to up to $1 million per store, Sheetz said.
In addition to improving the stores’ appearance and efficiency, remodeling will extend the life of the buildings, he said. It also demonstrates “we’re making these investments because we’re planning to be here for the long haul,” Sheetz added.
The company wants to complete this round of remodeling before returning to stores like the Opal one, which were upgraded or expanded before Sheetz unveiled the new model in 2006, he said.
After that, “we need to make a decision of when we go back and do” the Opal store and others like it so that they conform with the company’s new look, Sheetz said.
New awnings and signs will supplant the existing ones.
The layout of the store and the kitchen and counters will change to accommodate customers and employees.
Inside and out, the Warrenton Sheetz at Lee Highway and Blackwell Road will be remodeled at an estimated $247,000 to make it look more like the new store model that the Pennsylvania-based company introduced about six years ago.
Besides new fixtures, kitchen equipment, floors and restrooms, the renovation plan includes a new, $45,000 canopy over the pumps.
Work began last month on the store and should be completed in mid-March, said Joe Sheetz, executive vice president of finance and store development.
“We’re attempting to move more food, to look more like fast-food stores than convenience stores,” Sheetz said of the company-wide remodeling effort. “The old ones look nothing like the new ones. This is a branding exercise to look like the new ones.”
The Warrenton store, which opened in 1997, also will be slightly enlarged to 4,378 square feet from 4,183 square feet.
The remodeling drew a range of comments from Tuesday morning commuters.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Paul Fisher, 45, who lives near New Baltimore and works for an IT company in Northern Virginia. “I guess because of the [space] they’re limited in what they can do.”
But Dan Hilleary, 55, of Warrenton couldn’t care less about the changes.
“It doesn’t impact me,” said Hilleary, the chief financial officer for a Washington, D.C., trade association that represents the fruit and vegetable industry. “Living in town, I come for the gas and coffee. I don’t care if the bricks red or white.”
A family-owned business, Sheetz has 408 stores in six states, including 58 in Virginia and two in Fauquier.
The company began remodeling old stores last year, completing about 10.
“It was a test year,” Sheetz said in a phone interview from the company’s headquarters in Altoona. “Just working through the kinks of how to do it, because you’re trying to keep open during the process.”
He said the company plans to remodel 160 to 170 stores in the next several years.
The remodeling costs will range from $250,000 to up to $1 million per store, Sheetz said.
In addition to improving the stores’ appearance and efficiency, remodeling will extend the life of the buildings, he said. It also demonstrates “we’re making these investments because we’re planning to be here for the long haul,” Sheetz added.
The company wants to complete this round of remodeling before returning to stores like the Opal one, which were upgraded or expanded before Sheetz unveiled the new model in 2006, he said.
After that, “we need to make a decision of when we go back and do” the Opal store and others like it so that they conform with the company’s new look, Sheetz said.
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