It isn’t every day that a business announces a 100-year expansion plan.
But that’s what the York-based convenience store chain Rutter’sannounced, according to CSP, a website that covers the convenience store business.
Privately held Rutter’s has more than 80 stores, mainly in central Pennsylvania, the backyard of far larger rival Sheetz. Its long-term plans call for expanding into western and eastern Pennsylvania and entering Delaware and Virginia.
Rutter’s, like its rivals, focuses on food offerings, with an expansive menu that includes pizza, burgers, and a hashbrown wrap in addition to the subs/hoagies popularized by Wawa.
It also has video gaming rooms (slots) in Pennsylvania at locations designated truck stops and has added “beer caves” in some locations, thanks to loosened laws in the Keystone state. Spirits are available at its lone store in West Virginia.
The Rutter’s locations closest to Delaware are in Strasburg and Gap, PA.
Rutter’s announced it is looking for 25-acre tracts that would house its gas pumps and a larger convenience store.
Finding sites of that size won’t be easy in Delaware, at least up north.
Rutter’s is moving into an increasingly crowded regional market that includes Royal Farms, Shore Stop and Wawa, as well as Sheetz.
Wawa earlier announced plans to expand further into central Pennsylvania while also adding Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Wawa also plans to move into states near its Florida stronghold.
Wawa, the ninth largest convenience store chain, revealed that it plans to open travel plazas on large sites along major highways that would appeal to travelers, some of whom are familiar with the chain and its goose logo.
The plazas would stop short of being traditional truck stops but cater to families and others who need to make a rest stop.
Longer term, a Wawa truck stop might not be out of the picture, given the company’s ambitious plans to double its store count beyond the 960 already in operation. The company has 46 stores in Delaware alone.
Other convenience store chains operate sprawling truck stops that need a lot of acreage for big rig drivers staying overnight and in need of heating and air hook-ups. Laws in Delaware and other states prohibit idling for more than a short time.
