Rebuilt Sheetz with Drive-Through Set to Open in College Township

Centre County’s first Sheetz store with a drive-through is almost ready to open.

The newly rebuilt 765 Benner Pike convenience store and gas station, at the intersection with Shiloh Road in College Township, is scheduled to open on Tuesday, Aug. 20, Sheetz public relations manager Nick Ruffner said in an email.

After closing in March, the 16-year-old 4,700 square foot Sheetz store at the location was demolished to be replaced with a new 6,077 square foot building, including a new drive-through. The new store has an added dining area with seating for 30, 14 gas pumps and 43 parking spaces.

All items in the store, with the exception of alcohol and lottery tickets, can be purchased at the drive-through, though made-to-order food and specialty drinks have to be pre-ordered using the Sheetz app, Ruffner said.

Sheetz plans to sell beer and wine at the new store, though Ruffner was not immediately sure on Friday if they would be available at opening. Last month, College Township Council approved an inter-municipal restaurant liquor license transfer from the Hofbrau in Bellefonte to the rebuilt Sheetz store, but the application to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board was listed in the PLCB database as pending as of Friday afternoon.

When alcohol is available, all beer to go will be stored in a walk-in cooler and will be sold 7 a.m to 1:45 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m.-1:45 a.m. on Sundays, attorney Mark Kozar said last month. Wine sales are required by law to cease at 11 p.m. nightly.

Beer and Wine for Benner Township Sheetz?

Sheetz also is looking to add beer and wine to its other Benner Pike store. The convenience store chain has an application pending to transfer a restaurant liquor license to the 2850 Benner Pike location. The license, which is currently in safekeeping, would be transferred from the Fox Head Inn in Rush Township.

The store would be required to expand before receiving the license. For restaurant liquor licenses, the state liquor code requires dine-in seating for at least 30, and the Benner Township store does not currently have any. A wine-expanded permit also is required to sell wine bottles.

Kozar, the Sheetz liquor license attorney, said the chain would not offer consumption on premises at all if it were permitted to do so, and customers rarely have beer in any of their stores.

If approved, it would give Sheetz the ability to sell beer and wine at nearly all of its Centre County locations. Beer and wine also are sold at three Sheetz stores in Patton Township, one in State College, and one in Centre Hall. College Township also approved a liquor license transfer to the Southridge Plaza store along South Atherton Street earlier this year, and PLCB approval is pending a seating addition there.

The PLCB denied an application for a liquor license transfer to the Wingate Sheetz after an objection by Bald Eagle Area School District. Sheetz appealed that decision and there have been no court filings in the case since March. The PLCB database lists the transfer as pending.

Sheetz is also planning to build a new store on a portion of the former Harner Farm property off West College Avenue in Ferguson Township. Land development plans for the store are pending approval.