Sheetz opens restaurant, gas station, convenience store in Heath, second in Licking County
HEATH − Sheetz opened its second store in Licking County and 77th in Ohio on Tuesday morning, when about 200 people crowded onto the property at Hebron Road and Oberlin Drive.
The restaurant, gas station and retail store started with a soft opening last week, but officially opened with the celebration, ribbon-cutting and give-aways Tuesday.
The 4,900 square foot Sheetz building is divided equally between restaurant space and retail space. The company opened its first Licking County store on North 21st Street in Newark in March 2022.
Nick Ruffner, the Sheetz public relations manager, said Heath residents have been looking forward to the opening since the Newark store opened.
“That’s what we heard a lot last year,” Ruffner said. “When are you going to Heath. The store in Newark has been so good for us. We’re excited to get this one opened.”
Sheetz first came to central Ohio in April 2021 when it opened in Delaware. Now, the company has 25 in central Ohio. It will add a store in Etna Township later this summer.
Sheetz replaced a small car dealership and an adjacent car wash that closed last year in Heath.
Across the street from Sheetz is a Turkey Hill gas station. And Speedway is located on another corner at Hebron Road and Oberlin Drive.
But, Sheetz is the only gas station on the east side of Hebron Road between the Speedway station at O’Neill Drive in Hebron and Ohio 16 in Newark, a distance of almost eight miles.
“Ease of getting on and off the roadway, that’s something they really look at,” Ruffner said of the company's executives.
In November, Braydon Putnam, of V3 Companies design engineers, represented Sheetz at a Heath Planning Commission meeting. He said it was a complicated planning process because of the unique size and terrain of the 1.6-acre site.
The entire site had to be raised more than a foot for the underground storm sewer. Drainage was a concern to a residential homeowner behind the business.
Sheetz is a family-owned and operated business, headquartered in Pennsylvania, with 691 stores in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and several mid-Atlantic states. It started in 1952 as a deli and dairy to get quick food, then added fuel two decades later.
The company presented $2,500 checks for donations to Special Olympics Ohio and the Food Pantry Network of Licking County at Tuesday's celebration.
Ruffner said the Special Olympics partnership dates to 1991 in Pennsylvania. Customers can donate to Special Olympics at Sheetz stores.
"As we went to every new state, we brought this partnership with us," Ruffner said. "It's a major partnership in every state where we operate."
Special Olympics powerlifter Garrett Ford said, "Thank you to the Sheetz family for being great partners and the support Sheetz employees have shown."
Ford, representing Licking County Special Olympics, swept his weight class in deadlift, squat, bench and combined at the Special Olympics World Games in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in 2019.
Since 1992, an organization run by Sheetz employees called Sheetz For The Kids, partners with Salvation Army to provide Christmas gifts for children, helping 11,000 children last year. The company pledges to help 16 local children per store location.
Alyssa Shepherd, funds development director for the Food Pantry Network of Licking County, accepted the $2,500 Sheetz donation.
"Thanks to our partners at the Mid-Ohio Food Collective, for every dollar donated, we can provide $11 in groceries," Shepherd said. "So, a $2,500 donation will allow us to provide $27,500 of groceries to Licking County families in need."
Sheetz For the Kids also partners with local food banks to provide a $1,000 grant to a local food bank. Sheetz donates leftover food every week to local food banks.
Non-profits can apply for a donation from Sheetz on the company web site, https://www.sheetz.com.
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Twitter: @kmallett1958
This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Sheetz opens store in Heath, second location in Licking County
