The new Sheetz officially opened its doors to the public at Thursday at 7 a.m., the same day that the old Sheetz closed.
Junior psychology and philosophy major Christie Gribschaw was one of the people who was in attendance of the grand opening of the new store. According to Gribschaw, about 30 people were lined up at 7 a.m. waiting for the new Sheetz to open. She stated that some people were so excited that they were taking pictures.
“It’s just a Sheetz, it’s nothing special,” Gribschaw said. “It’s bigger, it’s got seating. It’s a gas station.”
Others found the new Sheetz to be exciting.
“I like it a lot, it’s much better than the old Sheetz,” Wisenfluh food service employee Jean Bartley said.
“I think it’s pretty awesome,” said Michal Kay, operator at Alleghany Mineral Corporation. “It’s big, so it can hold a crowd like the old Sheetz used to.”
The new Sheetz includes more space, indoor and outdoor seating areas, a walk-in drink freezer, and more fuel pumps.
In March last year while the new Sheetz was in its planning stages, the Slippery Rock Borough council performed a traffic study to make sure that the additional traffic from the new Sheetz would not cause an increase in accidents and traffic jams.
In a previous Rocket interview, Ryan Bauder, the assistant manager of of Sheetz in March 2012 said, “I don’t think the location of the new Sheetz will cause any traffic problems whatsoever. The location is more convenient, and the parking lot will be much easier to drive through because it will be pretty big.”
Owner of Powell Auto Solutions Inc., Neal Powell explained that although he hasn’t personally noticed any more traffic than usual on Franklin Street, some costumers have told him that there has been significantly more traffic on the road heading into town near the bank and BP gas station.
Powell said that the traffic might be caused by the fact that there is no turning lane to get into Sheetz from that one specific road, while every other road in that four way has an accessible entrance.
The Sheetz management was unavailable for comment.
