Sheetz college c-store: a lab for millennial tastes

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More than a dozen dispensers churn “gourmet” frozen beverages in cartoon-color flavors. A vaulted proscenium frames a stone pizza oven, open kitchen and barista-manned coffee bar. Cherry-oak tile leads to an “Order Fresh Food Here” pillar of flat screens, scrolling through still shots of pastrami sandwiches, cheeseburgers topped with fried eggs and breakfast burritos, available to order from dawn to midnight at self-serve kiosks. This isn’t the latest high-tech food court or college cafeteria; it’s a convenience store on the campus of West Virginia University.

A new twin-tower, 900-bed housing unit on the Morgantown, W. Va., campus proved the perfect opportunity for Sheetz to develop the concept—a foot-traffic reliant c-store without the gas pumps. Opened in March, Sheetz considers it a laboratory to hone the company’s future as a food-first cafe. A second location is planned on the Penn State University campus in State College, Pa.

With channel-blurring forcing a tighter bond between convenience goods and foodservice, the new Sheetz store could be an incarnation of things to come. Here are six features of the forward-looking location that other operators can apply to catch the eye of millennials. 

1. Food first

When customers step into the main vestibule, they see a restaurant instead of a c-store. Made-to-order items are prepared in an amphitheater-like setting, creating transparency, so customers can watch their custom pizzas and coffee drinks come to life.

2. Flexible seating

On the flip side of grab-and-go, more c-stores are emulating restaurant-style seating. At Sheetz, indoor and outdoor seating encourages lingering. There are matching tables that can be pushed together, booths for six or eight and a high bar of 12 counter-height seats, where solo diners can wait for their orders.

3. Tech at the ready

The seating area has multiple outlets and USB ports for students who want to plug in while eating.

4. Self-serve checkout

"Pay here” signs and impulse aisles define a path to checkout areas, but within that queue are two self-service-payment kiosks. Sheetz officials hope to measure the concept’s potential when lines build during peak hours.

5. Grocery

The developers of the housing complex that the store is attached to pushed the concept of grocery; Sheetz bought into it, developing several thousand feet for frozen foods, eggs and produce.

6. Major Marketing

Sheetz used social media, campus newspaper ads and both digital and static signage to get the word out to students in advance of the store’s opening, according to Tamara Dunkley, corporate advertising manager for Sheetz. It intends to use direct-marketing efforts aimed at student residents to build awareness of the grocery offer, she says.