This weekend I will be in Martinsburg, W. Va., to help my son move into a new place.
In other words, I'll be in Sheetz country.
I'll try not to snicker.
In case you missed it yesterday, Delco's own Wawa was named the No. 1 convenience store in America.
That's correct. The folks who started out with that little farm in Chester Heights, and a single store in the Folsom section of Ridley Township, is not top dog when it comes to convenience stores.
The competition between Wawa, kings of the road in the eastern part of Pa., and Sheetz, which dominates in parts out in Harrisburg and farther west, is intense.
Customers are loyal.
Ask anyone who has moved away from the area and the one thing they all will tell you they miss is Wawa. Guess people take that 'Gottahava' slogan pretty seriously.
Ironically, the one item I depend on Wawa to deliver actually wound up in a tie in that survey of 7,000 consumers done by market Forfce Information.
Sheetz and Wawa tied for the No. 1 spot when it comes to coffee.
You can have Dunkin' (my wife's favorite) as well as Starbucks (with that burned taste, a although I do like their new blonde offering), I will always be a Wawa guy when it comes to my java. Nothing fancy. I don't need any latte or frappacino or iced this or that. I just want a black 12-ounce coffee with two sugars.
Of course, I occasionally want something a bit stronger, and that's where Sheetz has a decided edge.
The first time I visited my son in West Virginia, the first thing I did when we got into town was walk into the Sheetz store. I wasn't looking for coffee.
I was looking for something a bit stronger.
Yes, most of the Sheetz stores out there have a walk-in cooler with cold six-packs of beer.
You don't have to go into a separate part of the store. You don't have to pay for it at a separate register. You can grab a six-pack, along with anything else you might want in the store, walk up to the cash register and pay for it all at the same time.
Wawa is looking to stick its toe into the waters in the increasingly competitive area of beer sales here in Pennsylvania.
They have applied to sell beer at their store on Naamans Creek Road out in Concord. The hearing was supposed to be this week but was delayed until Aug. 4.
Of course, this being Pennsylvania, Land of Giants, it still won't be what I would call "convenient."
Just as the supermarkets that are now selling beer, Wawa will have to construct a separate part of the store for the beer sales.
Gottahava?
Sure, but with the normal bureaucratic bungling that is the nameplate of Pennsylvania.
For now Wawa says it plans only to sell beer at this one site, but it's not hard to read between the lines. If it's successful there (anyone want to bet against it) Wawa indicates they will consider expanding sales to other stores.
In terms of the state, the battle to privatize the sale of wine and alcohol seems to be bottled up in the ongoing budget standoff between Gov. Tom Wolf and Republicans in the state Legislature.
Hey, at least we can brag that Wawa is No. 1. They are a Delco business icon, and part of the landscape of the Delaware Valley.
Sheetz, your goose is cooked, courtesy of that Canadian goose that calls Delco home.
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