It’s a convenience store showdown in Downingtown. Sheetz, the Altoona-based convenience store chain, is working to redevelop a closed Rite Aid storefront in Downingtown, Chester County, Pennsylvania, into a 6,100-square-foot store.
According to the Delaware News Journal, the new store, at the intersection of East Lincoln Highway and Bondsville Road, will include a drive-thru, indoor guest seating, several multi-fuel gas pumps, and 45 vehicle parking spaces. Sheetz’s new location places it directly opposite its competitor, Wawa.
As the Delaware News Journal notes, Sheetz has been moving eastward across the state from its western Pennsylvania home. Yet the company has sidestepped Philadelphia and its suburbs, where its rival Wawa has been entrenched. The Downingtown location is another flag in the sand in a growing competition between the two convenience chains for a greater market stake. This battle for territory has already come to bear in Berks, Lancaster, and Lehigh counties in Pennsylvania…