I've been a truck driver for over 20 yrs. I can say with the utmost confidence that the food from these convenience stores all suck. Go to a local diner instead
Buc-ee’s is such a great destination stop on a road trip, but if I’m running late for work and I want to grab an energy drink and a bite, you can get in and out of a Wawa or Sheetz in 2 or 3 minutes. That would be a sprint and a half in a Buc-ee’s. It’s just not as practical for everyday stops. This is why the Sheetz and Wawa model work so well, convenience.
@@btravisbrowna smaller, non truck stop kwik trip has 20 pumps minimum. And im guessing you can tell by the name it can easily be a sub 3 minute stop lol
@@PhilEdwardsInc You know I thought I was familiar with Americana, and yet I have never heard of both of these companies before this video. Only learned about Buc-ee's recently. And they say you guys have no culture xD
@@PhilEdwardsInc It's not even American, it's a subset of suburbia, mostly in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and South. No one is pledging allegiance to AM/PM in California.
@@PhilEdwardsInc Guy sitting on the garbage can shed is too well dressed to be living in that trailer. He's obviously the company field trainer, so yes. He's happy to see another conquest by his star pupil.
1:07 As a Florida resident, the wawa invasion happened in about a year. There were no wawas, next year they were everywhere, with free air for tires and undercutting the local circle k and 7Eleven gas prices by as much as .10 a gallon.
I remember traveling down and being suprised to find a wawa in Daytona beach, only to find it was the only wawa south of Virginia, but this was years back
I maintain that Casey's is not a gas station & convenience store that serves pizza, it's a pizza chain that just also sells gas, snacks, alcohol, etc. on the side
Having grown up around Philadelphia, it always seems weird to hear people describe Wawa as a gas station. To me, they were always a convenience store first and foremost, and some locations also happened to have gas.
@@donkeysaurusrex7881 most 7-11s or Circle Ks in CA were just convenience, no gas. At least when i was growing up. Midwest seems to have fewer of those style of store.
So interesting. My dad owned a Chevron service station from the 40s to the 90s, so he saw all the trends. I always loved hearing his stories. He didn't make much on gas, so he focused on selling tires where he could. It wasn't until the 90s when he finally got electric gas pumps and a compurtized cash register, and started selling CPGs. When he sold the station in 2000, the new owners closed the 2 service bays and made the whole thing a mini mart because that's where the money is...
My maternal grandfather took over his father's general store in the 1940s. The addition of gas pumps followed pretty much the same pattern described here. After the state road was moved, he had the store jacked up and moved to the new road. I'm unsure of the exact timeline but gas pumps were added as an incentive to get people to stop on the new fast road. He stocked dry goods and hardware. He also had a truck my family referred to as the "rolling store" that he would drive out to farms and sell from. Most families didn't have multiple automobiles, so housewives stuck at home were a great market for non-perishables. My mom liked to tag along so she could play with the other kids while Grandad did business. The gas pumps were something of a Faustian bargain. Underground gas tanks were expensive to install, maintain, and replace when they inevitably leaked. But people would stop for gas on the way to the Army Corps of Engineers lake and stock up on sandwich stuff and soda for their day. (It was a dry county.)
The name for petrol stations in Australia is still, colloquially, "servos" - as in a shortening of "service station". But you're correct; they're going the way of the dinosaur. There's very few with service areas left. New regulations on fuel storages (ie, you can no longer have sixty-year-old single-bunded underground tanks that'll leak ULP and diesel into the earth) meant a lot of those ones with mechanics shut down, and new ones are rarely built with service areas.
Just days ago, i started having conversations about how gas stations don't make their money on gas, and more and more people are treating them as a legitimate grocery store. The culmination of my questioning is, that people clearly want a bodega style place across the country. Why can't we have more corner grocery stores in neighbourhoods and serve people in a more walkable way? The crux that was brought up was Dollar General.
We have a lot of smoke shops that operate like that, but the The reason we don't have a lot of tiny convenience stores in most areas of the country anymore or because their prices are high, it's difficult to find staffing to run them, and in most smaller areas they don't really sell all that much because most people who are going on an actual shopping trip will just pack up and go to Walmart
@@zacharyhenderson2902 the cost statement is very true. I'm in one of those very areas. Two vape shops within the distance of a city block, but only one dismal (major company owned) grocery store on the entire half of the town. A town that historically had over a hundred grocers. There has to be some sort of co-op network that could exist giving small owners leverage on wholesale prices.
@@drewe2331 that's partly why franchise models have traditionally been so successful with convenience stores and fast food. That model just breaks down once you get past 'cokes and smokes'.
When driverless cars take over (and nobody own his own car anymore because it'll be much cheaper to ride Waymo), they'll eventually stop selling gas. ⛽ They'll just have acres and acres of convenience store! 🏪
The rural Iowa town I grew up in had a curbside pump until summer 2020, when it was unfortunately damaged beyond repair by a derecho. The way it worked was each house had a key to use on an attached panel. The local gas company would mail you a bill at the end of the month for whatever you pumped. It was such a loss but a cool relic from the past.
@@TheLostVectorit really did. I’d argue that its biggest effect was helping speed up the demise of nuclear power in Iowa after the Palo plant got damaged. I moved away from the cedar valley over a decade ago but it still made me really sad to hear about that :/
@@herzogsbuick Basically, really strong winds swept through large portions of the state and caused a LOT of property damage. It was worse in some areas than others. The sky was a really weird shade of yellow, but thankfully I didn't suffer too much. But whole buildings in some parts had to be rebuilt/undergo serious renovations for months afterwards.
I work in hazardous waste cleanup and removal. I promise there is absolutely NO ‘stapling’ a gas station in, at least in any state that cares about their drinking water. The installation, maintenance and replacement will be an astronomical cost. This coming from a Massachusetts resident, so we obviously have severe environmental precautions. But just the process that allows you to pump gas/diesel from that nozzle is an underground maze of pumps, lines, and 2-10, 8-25k gal tanks. If you go to work early enough or get home late enough, and stop to fill up, you’ll see tankers dropping fuel 2-3 times a week even at the smallest places. Deserves a whole documentary by itself.
Yea Casey’s has bought up a lot of the gas stations around me as they’ve moved in. As far as I can tell it’s been mostly just a name change, I imagine they’ll trash and replace the buildings
I use to tour a lot as a professional juggler, and my favorite gas stops were always those quirky ones that weren't part of a chain and often had random things like antique stores attached.
Yesss go Stewart's! Can't believe I had to scroll this far to find it, I guess it is fairly niche being entirely located within the eastern half of upstate NY lol
Yeahhh! I already left a comment to this because I didn't scroll far enough to see yours first - it's another great example of having started as a dairy and then added gas later.
I remember in the 60's gas station chains had "premiums" where repeat customers could get anything from glassware and towels to toys, kitchenware, or even electronics as rewards.
The fact that a smoked brisket sandwich is better at a beaver themed gas station than some restaurants. Also they always have the BEST bathrooms if you are needing to stop on a road trip
As a midwesterner it goes like this: Casey's is for pizza always and Kwik Trip/Kwik Star for everything else. Also QT is the impostor Kwik Trip don't trust anyone who goes in there.
@@petersartorius2054only reason you'd think QT is the Goat is because you haven't been to a Kwik Trip. QT is the LeBron of gas stations, but Kwik Trip is the 1992 Dream team
Now I regret not submitting my video! I mentioned that, growing up, Wawa wasn't even a gas station. It was where we got our lunch meats and sandwich bread (hoagie rolls). A charter school I attended as a kid even got its cafeteria cartoned milk and juices from Wawa! I still go to Wawa for ice and milk multiple times a week. What's apparently surprising is that I think Sheetz is really cool! Every time I'm on a road trip through Sheetz-country, I make sure I stop at one along the way. Still, there's no place like home. I'll always prefer Wawa!
One thing tagt makes me irate these days, is that these new stores are called "convenience stores" but they are far from it by the very definition. Convenience stores are places that have basic essential items everyone needs like basic groceries and household items. But these stores that these gas stations not only feature huge buildings- bigger than Family Doller stores, but basically sell nothing but junk food and snacks. It's extremely frustrating when Walmart closes at 11 and you need something late at night like sour cream or scotch tape but none of these places have them!
Ever since covid happened and all the Walmarts and the few grocery chains that stayed open 24/7 closed at midnight it's been impossible to buy anything essential now. They just refuse to stay open 24/7 anymore. I guess they're saving money that way but it's very annoying. At this rate if they haven't opened 24/7 again I doubt they ever will
I just now realized 7-Eleven was named after their open hours. I wonder if any of the stores still are only 7am - 11pm, because all the store around me are open 24/7
In high school, I had a friend who worked the 11pm-7am shift at a 7-11. I have no idea how long the hours in their name lasted, but probably not too long.
This was my exact thought! I’ve never heard a single solitary soul ride hard for Quick Trip; but I’ve heard *legions* of Wisconsinites do so for Kwik Trip!
Why this works so well: yesterday on my way from work, I know we needed some milk and one or two other basic things. I also had less than 1/2 tank of gas. Made a plan to stop at Kwik Trip on the way home (different exit) and got those items + a cold drink in probably 5-6 minutes. Multiply this by millions and you’ve got a nice industry.
And Costco went the other way, subsidizing their low gas prices by annual memberships and bulk purchases. None are inherently “convenient” unless it’s a small store like an old 7-Eleven that just randomly happens to be on your route.
@@seashackf1 The odds may be better, but plenty of examples of skimming inside too. There are videos on RUclips of skimmers being installed in just a couple seconds while the clerk is distracted. Nothing is foolproof except cash.
@@PsRohrbaugh I know, that’s why I specifically said “and inside” and why I pay cash to avoid although. I’ve seen those videos and the clerks weren’t distracted, they were 100% in on it.
Where I live, Buckee’s is a big thing. I’ve been to them a couple times, mostly for gas, but they did have a good barbecue sandwich. I don’t go shopping there because it’s too expensive just like all of them are. Buckee’s is nice though and it’s always clean.
I never hear arguments online about any other state’s convenient stores except for Pennsylvania’s. It’s all always about Wawa and Sheetz and it just makes me wonder why no other state has this thing going on to this degree.
I don’t think there’s another state as big as PA that’s as divided as PA culturally, so that definitely fuels it. But it’s all in good fun. The Wawa/Sheetz divide also follows the hockey & football split pretty closely as well. You’re either all about the Pittsburgh Penguins & Steelers or the Philadelphia Flyers & Eagles. In my teen years, I saw a similar split in CT over baseball (Yankees vs Red Sox) which split pretty perfectly over the Connecticut River, but neither team actually belonged to the state, so the passion was more passive unless it was playoffs. Here in PA though, it’s personal in that they’re our teams & our chains. People also feel particularly passionate about Wawa because of what they do for our community & that they are all family-owned. It may be a large-ish corporation, but it’s still a family owned empire which is rare these days. They don’t franchise. All branches are owned by one family member or another who all own a stake in the larger company. But Wawa does a lot for our community. They helped improve public transit here. They offer scholarships for low income kids. They have plenty of corner stores without gas stations that serve an important role in walkable neighborhoods & perhaps more so, in lower income but not very walkable neighborhoods. Another reason folks love Wawa around here is they provide a delicious but equally convenient alternative to Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, & Subway. Local hoagie shops aren’t always the most convenient but Wawa usually is & is locally owned too. Starbucks has a way of being a public nuisance that Wawa manages to avoid & Wawa everything is just better than Dunkin, in every way.
@@Chaotic_Pixiejust to add Sheetz is also family owned and ranks highly each year on places to work for both are great, but Sheetz has way more variety finally Wawa is branching out to central pa though so the clash will truly begin
@@austinroessler7705 I’ve never been to a Sheetz. I do know that those that I know will choose Wawa coffee over Sheetz coffee. When our little coffee fiend came to visit, she just gaped at the selection of flavors & that wasn’t including all the artisan coffees that have to be made to order.
If we’re using war as an analogy, then the mom & pop gas station is Poland - overrun and demolished from both sides. Very little of the revenue from these large companies stay in the communities in which they operate. Between Walmart, Ace Hardware, Dollar General, Sheetz/WaWa, and fast food & corporate restaurant chains, the number of successful small businesses in many small towns is an order of magnitude lower than it was 60 years ago.
8:47 😂 Circle K didn’t even make your list 🤣 Here in Arizona, 95% of our convenience stores are Circle K’s. No name Mom & Pop convenience stores are far more common than QTs and 7-11s but we have those too. The vast majority of Circle K’s stores are ugly & dirty with broken equipment. I hope they aren’t allowed to buy 🇯🇵 7-11s stores.
Circle K bought out Holiday Stations in the Midwest and are slowly rebranding. Second your opinion on them and it feels like the quality is dropping pretty quickly as the changeover progresses.
In Champaign-Urbana, the majority of convenience store/gas stations are Circle K. Over the last couple of decades, Circle K bought up smaller chains in the area, which gave them Circle K stores that were near other Circle K stores, sometimes directly across the street from each other. After COVID hit, and people were working from home more and driving less, Circle K closed most of the stores that were near other ones. The locations are up for sale, but I think Circle K is trying to make sure they aren't used for another convenience store, which has probably slowed down the rate of re-occupancy. Casey's, QuikTrip and Road Ranger are also in town, but just one outlet each, near the interstate highways.
@@ztl2505 Ugh, I _hope_ they don't go the way SuperAmerica did. Holiday stores have long been nicer and better-kept than late-stage SuperAmerica -- and the Speedway stores they got rebranded to. That said, I'd gladly stop at Kwik Trip more ... if they actually had stores in the inner suburbs where I am. Here in the Twin Cities, Holiday and SuperAmerica already sealed up the urban and first- and second-ring suburban markets before Kwik Trip ever got here. And with Kwik Trip's larger store footprints, there aren't many places they can shoehorn in to truly compete. (Casey's used to have more of a presence before both, but got driven out by competition with Holiday and SA. They've since returned in the exurbs and in rural areas ... and the occasional oddball closer in.) As it is, I go to Holiday, or I go to a small neighborhood supermarket that's almost as convenient as a convenience store -- especially since it's in walking distance of my house! (There's a BP with a food mart that's closer than both, but it's not as good in price, selection, _or_ atmosphere.)
I never liked old Circle K stores, which were small and run down. Couche-Tard, the Quebecois retailer who owns them now, is making a massive investment into new larger CK’s that are as nice as a Wawa or QT. Plus they are investing in high quality EV charging at their locations. CK is the number one EV charging provider in Norway, for instance. My opinion has really come around with newer Circle K outlets in recent years.
Nothing will make me survive a long road trip like the chimis from an Allsup's. And you never forget the taco sauce. Allsup's is one of the reasons they call New Mexico the land of enchantment
I'll have to give them another try next time I'm in New Mexico. My only experience was at the one in Tatum, in the absolute ass end of nowhere and it was shockingly bad. Like stepping back to a store in the 80s: dirty, poorly stocked and with the worst toilet in all of New Mexico.
Love the video, went to school in Philly before moving back to NY. Miss Wawa every day and will always go to one when I’m back in Philly! The Thanksgiving gobbler is my favorite!
I have a friend who transferred from Wilmington, DE to Pittsburgh, PA… and she longs for Wawa. They rented a beach house this summer with her family & she said she ate so much Wawa she managed to gain weight in the summer for the first time ever. 😂 It’s that sort of energy that I think people don’t get. You miss the food. You miss clerks who remember your face. You miss seeing the same employees year after year. You miss just how good the coffee is & that it never tastes burnt.
Another gas station chain with a following that wasnt named in the video is Cumberland Farms! They started in Rhode Island as a dairy delivery service, and now run small gas stations and convenience stores in New England and Florida.
Moved away from Philadelphia to MN (no WaWa) at age 28. Visiting Florida and finding a WaWa was a nostalgic filled experience of seeing an old comfortable friend. Turkey Shorti, a soft pretzel, and Goldberg Peanut Chews; yes please.
Wow, suddenly I understand a lil more why Casey’s went so hard in their absurd “Famous for pizza” motto rebrand a couple of years ago. I always thought it was weird that a gas station sold pizza but in reality this is a convenience store with a kitchen element that sells gas too.
The thing about buccees (can’t speak for the other chains) is that 1 buccees replaces an entire insterstate exit. These exits used to contain multiple options for gas stations and multiple options for food. With a buccees exit you get drawn in for the cheap gas, but if you need food too, you’ll be forced into fewer options at a higher price. The only option left is stopping again at the next exit.
I've noticed the opposite at the Buc-ee's in Terrell TX near where I grew up. It's just west of where a spur highway splits off of I-20, so there's an area between the two highways (the middle) and areas north and south of it. Before Buc-ee's went in there was only one gas station in the middle area and one gas station with a Denny's inside and a restaurant on the north side. Then Buc-ee's opened up in the middle area, and now the rest of the middle area is literally almost fully developed. There's a strip mall with big-box stores, there's at least 10 restaurants (both fast food and sit-down), there are hotels, there are multiple apartment complexes, and there's a car dealership. All where 10 years ago there was just empty fields and one single gas station. The north side also added a car dealership and the south side is still just fields, but the area between the highways is literally unrecognizable from when I was a kid.
This reminded me the WSJ made a video a couple months ago about 7 Elevens in the US changing to be more like what they are in Japan. These convenience stores are evolving to stay relevant/profitable.
That would be nice if they would be more like the Japanese 7-Elevens. Everything I've heard says the Japanese ones are the GOAT, while the US ones are just dismal, especially compared to the competition referenced in this video (Sheetz, Wawa, Kwik Trip/Kwik Star, Buc-ees, etc.)
As a kid growing up in Jersey, gas stations terrified me. You're not allowed to leave the car, unless you have to go to the bathroom, where you have to go beg some scary guy in a dirty cramped shack for a key go around back to use a dirty cramped outhouse. While you're sitting there trapped in a hot gross car, some other scary guy looms over you asking complicated questions about gasoline types. Then you have to do an awkard hand-off of cash and change through a window always spilling change everywhere. Then I moved to the mid-west where we could get out and have a walk or explore a cool, clean store with all this fun stuff and pump our own gas and clean the windows while we were waiting. And it was clean and not gross, or scary. Plus the midwest has these things called plants that jersey doesn't have. Trees, bushes, flowers and grasses, like the woods or a farm, but actually places where people live and work. At times I would visit that dirty horrible cramped place where people love their wawa, but now I'm back in PA, my choice... my turkey hill
Gotta say, very smooth promotion of your newsletter/patreon in the middle there, Phil. Felt very much a part of the video and not a very noticeable commercial break. Congrats
The funny thing is for years Wawa did not cross Lancaster County but now they are opening stores here in Dauphin County. I am at the center of the war. You can literally see the Wawa they are building in Middletown (where I live) from the Sheetz. That's how close they are.
They are building so much in south central PA it's insane. There's a spot where they're building 2 Wawa's extremely close to eachother that some people would only have to drive 3-5 minutes to get to each one from both directions.
Having worked at Kwik trip for a few years now it’s slightly better than working at most other fast food places. All food is frozen and reheated and is passable as food real food. (Just don’t look at how much sodium is in anything) They pay slightly better than other places. Take cleanliness very seriously. However they only open places in “nice”(white) neighborhoods.
i used to work at sheetz. one of the first things my trainer said was that sheetz wasnt a gas station. it was a restaurant that also happened to serve gas. still one of the best places ive ever worked at
Electric car owner - I hope more stations go the same route Royal Farms is going and adds a huge bay of chargers in addition to pumps. They also have giant fiberglass roosters and cute little weathervanes on their stores and shill fried chicken that I’ve never tried but yeah, love the willingness to capitalize on paying customers who have to sit there for 20 minutes. I believe there’s at least one Wawa in Delaware that has a similar setup and it’s made a great stop on our way to the beach over the past couple of years.
There's a convenience store/gas station on I-37 that has at least a dozen superchargers and is cobranded with a fast-food restaurant. This seems to be the next top model.
I just did a Michigan to DC weekend trip with my Bolt and half my charges were at Sheetz, They are just now opening up stores in SE Michigan and NW Ohio
As a midwesterner that's lived on both coasts and in both the north and the south, I can unequivocally say that the top two gas station chains are KwikTrip(KwikStar) and WaWa, with Buc-ee's in 3rd only because it's more of a travel center
As someone from Los Angeles, this isn't a thing here. I think most people would disgusted by the idea of eating hot-served food at a gas station. Considering the state of most gas station bathrooms, you can imagine the state of the kitchen in a gas station.
I live near Philly so I can only speak to Wawa, but the deli section is pretty open and clean. All the hoagies are made to order...I don't think categorizing it as "gas station food" is a fair statement. More like convenient stores that also sell gas haha
Sheetz fan from Ohio here, the thing is it doesn't really feel like a gas station, it's a store that happens to also sell gas. I've stopped by the place pretty often when going back home from my college night classes just to eat there because their open so late and the food is good.
I was dubious until I traveled and started going inside and trying it. In Iowa Casey's is such an institution that people in those small towns order their Weekend pizza from there and won't touch Pizza Hut, Domino's or any of the major delivery chains.
We have Cumberland Farms up here in the Northeast. They originated in RI, and have been expanding. While offering decent stuff, the prices keep going up. As of late, I mostly avoid them. Their gas is mostly low-grade. My favorite is a place out west called "Kum and go". Fun name.
Another random thing that Wawa had, then got rid of, but is now back, is Lottery sales. They got rid of it when the clerk/workers had to individually sell tickets. The margins were way too small for the time it took and lines it caused (interfering with other, higher margin sales). When the self service Lottery machines came out Wawa brought it back.
I find it really interesting that very few of them have picked up on EV charging stations. It’s literally the perfect opportunity to capture customers for 15 or 20 minutes while they buy things in your store. I’ve been seeing more of them, but it’s really taking a long time.
I am watching this video after eating a six-pack of tacos last night at Sheetz. I drank Buccee's coffee twice yesterday and I am eating a Hawaiian pizza from Casey's. Yep. I am all into the gas station food
@@PhilEdwardsInc I have been travelling this weekend. They all have their high points. Buccee's is the cheapest place to buy gas, if you come across them they are going to be cheaper so top off or fill up your tank. I love that their coffee bar has caused the self serve coffee areas at gas stations to change to copy Buccee's. Sheetz is just good with their endless options that are good to go 24 hours a day. Nothing is bad, nor healthy for you from their food ordering. Casey's is all about Pizza and their coffee. They are around the corner from my house and I didn't want to cook.
@@accampbell As the name implies, I travel constantly and I have found that Buc-ee's is not as determined to be the low price leader on fuel anymore. You can find it cheaper near them on Gas Buddy a lot of the times.
My father owned a service station from after WWII (Gulf) through the 50s & 60s name changes (Humble/Enco, Exxon), to his retirement in the 1970s (Phillips 66). There was even a Ladies' Auxiliary of owners in San Antonio. I can remember gas getting down to 10 cents a gallon, state maps, S&H Green Stamps, giveaways. My father said his money didn't come from the sale of gas, but from the double bay garage attached to his station. As the big oil companies began to require owners to become managers of company-owned stations, he retired. In San Antonio, convenience stores are still called "ice houses".
I don't know if it's still there, but in Manassas, VA there at least used to be a 7-11 next to a gas station that had a 7-11 for the store. I stayed away from drugs as a teenager, but this might have been the first time I can remember thinking that I was hallucinating.
sheetz and wawa are in a league of their own. i guess so is buccee’s. casey’s recently took over several pilot gas stations where i went to school and casey’s is just like any other uninspired convenience store chain i’ve ever known, and they are not a chain worth having any loyalty towards. sheetz and wawa are worth that loyalty. they are innovative and provide an excellent customer experience whether you’re filling up your tank or going inside for a meal or a snack. no confusing sales or sneaky overcharging or misleading advertising. and they pay and treat their staff well, something you can tell when you walk inside.
I like the Buc-ee’s veggie breakfast sandwiches and super clean bathrooms - but it is far too big and trying to leave the parking area can be a nightmare. For me , Wawa > Sheetz because every sandwich I’ve had from Sheetz has been bad.
I’m originally from Philly and grew up on Wawa. I currently live in the Richmond, VA area where we have a mix of Sheetz & Wawa. I miss when Wawa wasn’t a gas station. Wawa had a deli and made hoagies with love. When they switched over to pre-sliced meats & cheeses. I haven’t had Sheetz food yet. I mainly use them for gas. That’s the advantage over Wawa they have to me. Sheetz offers $.03 off when you scan your rewards card. If you shop inside your reward points add up of course for items inside but also for gas.
Wawa added rewards. One of the rewards is 0.15 discount per gallon or 0.30 depending on how many points you want to spend. Its not usable in my state but it might help you out.
Buc-ee's is winning that race, they're building a 74,000 sq ft store in Biloxi that's supposed to open in the summer of 2025. Plan your road trip now! 😅
@@theuniversedoesntcare Yea probably, I am one of the few people who does all of their shopping online. It is so easy to compare prices, and the prices for gas station items are just stupidly expensive. Often double or triple, but people are so lazy in person they don't care and pay it because they are waiting for their gas to fill up.
If you are driving from Saint Louis to San Diego there is probably not a Publix when you pull off the Interstate way out in the boonies to get gas. There will be a 7/11 style convenience store though.
One of my earliest memories, probably from the late 1960s, is us buying a Christmas tree at a 7-Eleven in East Dallas at Abrams and Richmond. That same 7-Eleven is still there. A Christmas tree. That 7-Eleven was across from an "Enco" gas station, previously Esso, later Exxon. That's gone.
Phil, I can always count on you for thoroughly-researched and smartly/entertainmentingly presented information-information I need to have in these troubled times. I've wandered into Wawa in Flawada. I've kum to Kum 'n' Go in Nebwaska. I recently had my first look-ee inside a Buc-ee's, here in Tenness-ee. But I didn't know sheetz about Sheetz. So, thank you. 🤓
So in Canada, we do not have anything like this. Our gas stations often have convenience stores, but they are tiny ones, often run just by the one person working there. Yet all the gas stations are self-pump. Any thoughts on why this didn't catch on in Canada?
This sort of did take off up here, just not in the iconic east coast US way. Circle-K, Mac's, 7-11, and Beckers are the big players I know about in Canada, although Circle-K and Mac's no longer actually compete (and have been the same company for a very long time). At least in Calgary: smokes, transit tickets, and lottery are at least as important as gas for the initial hook in the inner city, and that is also true of larger cities in the states. But among the type of commuters that grab breakfast or lunch en route, they can be very particular about the food as well. I am from the southwestern US natively, and I would say the culture around convenience stores there is very similar to here, although I do miss the breakfast tacos along my commute in Austin and the Tamale truck that started operating at 8:30 am every Wednesday in the parking lot of the Exxon station a few blocks from my office in Houston. Then again, I have been car free since moving to Canada most of a decade ago so my take on the culture is more aligned with typical Canadian transit riders.
Because you are culturally irrelevant, the majority of your institutions are not Canadian. That being said you guys do act the same whenever we talk about how Timmy's is just burger king breakfast.
I live in Southern California and with the exception of 7-11 none of those chains exist here. In addition, if a gas station is more than 20 years old it’s just like the one you have in Canada. In other words, it’s just one person in a small room who runs the station and sells a handful of items like candy, cigarettes, and soft drinks.
I used to drive through Pennsylvania several times a year between 1982 and 1994, and I don’t remember seeing any Wawa or Sheetz. Maybe they had not expanded that much back then. Now I live in California, and the gas station stores seem less prominent. I go to a small one nearby only for lottery tickets.
this is also an argument as to why convenience stores need to add electric chargers. not to mention the fact charging takes longer and will thus keep the person there longer
We in Las Vegas have nothing cool like this. That being said, Buc-ees is on a different level entirely. 7-11, Wawa, and Sheets are smaller than a Buc-ees restroom.
As a Canadian, it’s mind-boggling to see such dedication to gas stations. By the end of the video, though, I realized that our gas stations, still mostly owned by petroleum companies, are lagging behind in the services they offer. I can’t even remember the last time I stepped into a gas station store or bought anything from one.
Yeah, there is nothing on the scale of these other chains. 7-11 is also wildly inconsistent, and many of them aren't attached to a gas station. They aren't really known for their food.
@@BurritoKingdomam-pm is still fairly common to see in the Central Valley, but I wouldn’t say it really earns any distinction from 7-11. They might as well be the same place, selling candy bars and greasy old hot dogs.
@@mushieslushieI’m in Ventura County and the only 7-11s that sell gas were built in the last 20 years. I don’t know of a single one older than that that sells gas.
As a New Mexican, I have to say that I feel the permian basin powerhouse that is Allsups should have gotten more screen time despite not having an obvious rivalry like out east anymore (rip Pick Quik)
You haven't lived until you have been to Bucee's. That being said, I don't think I have been to a Wawa's, but Sheets, Quick-Trip, Casey's, etc don't hold a candle to the creepy beaver and his nuggets.
Kum & Go is actually based in Iowa, and really does deserve more love. It was by far the best gas station I've worked at, and I'd probably still be there if the one in my town hadn't sold the building to a competitor. On the bright side, I have so much themed merch from the store because we employees were allowed to keep any branded merch when my location shut down. Been rocking my Kum & Go bucket hat and flip flops this summer!
Kum and Go is still the funniest store name I've ever seen. I only discovered it was a thing because they had a exclusive soda flavor I learned about and couldn't believe it existed
I grew up in South Jersey, and in the 90s, you couldn’t drive 10m without hitting another Wawa, but none of them sold gas! In the past 25 years, every time I visit again, I see that more and more of the original Wawas have been demolished and replaced with what we (and maybe they?) used to call “Super Wawas” (with gas). Idk what they put in that tuna salad, but it’s one of the few things that can make me long for New Jersey.
Slurpees are the main reason to go to 7-11. Or if they're near public transit and you want a quick snack. Or you're in a dense urban area, the 7-11 is within walking distance, and the closest supermarket/eatery already closed for the night.
It's the same here in the great lakes. We have 7-11 & Speedway, but 7-11 here rarely sells gas, Speedway is basically the gas station equivalent of 7-11. We are in the middle of all the "gas wars" yet don't have any of them.. but Buc-ee's & Sheetz are starting to move in.
There is a direct correlation in New Jersey between buying at a convenience store and having attendant-station gas stations. As the only state to have it, you might want to consider studying or showing what happens. It may be a boring study, but there we are.
I now want to see Harris and Walz do a convenient store tour where at some point she says,"Whether you love Sheets, WaWa, or Buc-ee's, the one thing we all have in common is that we're Americans!"
Out in the west half of the country, we have Maverik. They have their own frontier theme going on. It saved us on these long road trips during vacations.
One of my best friends lives in Altoona. He always takes me to a Sheetz anytime I go up there and I'm always impressed. I'm from the mountains of Virginia if you're wondering and all we have are the Hunt's Bros pizza's in different gas stations. Damn good pizza!
As a native Philadelphian I went many years before I found out that there were Wawa gas stations. It kind of blew my mind because I only ever thought of them as convenience stores. I guess now I understand that they are kind of just convenience stores and some of them also sell gas. Also TIL Wawa is big in Florida, how interesting
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I've been a truck driver for over 20 yrs. I can say with the utmost confidence that the food from these convenience stores all suck. Go to a local diner instead
You’re ordering wrong at Wawa. I assume you don’t order the fish at the diners, shouldn’t order certain things at Wawa either.
You don't like any Truck stop food?
Truck drivers in this country definitely need better meal options, among other things. They also don’t get paid what they’re worth.
How do you park the truck for a local diner? You don’t you park it at a rest stop and go to one of these brands
I eat Kwik Trip/Kwik Star food almost daily
I feel like Buc-ee's almost deserves its own video. "Massive canopies with SIXTEEN pumps..." Buc-ee's laughs in triple digits.
I said the same thing
*Laughs in Texan*
Buc-ee’s is such a great destination stop on a road trip, but if I’m running late for work and I want to grab an energy drink and a bite, you can get in and out of a Wawa or Sheetz in 2 or 3 minutes. That would be a sprint and a half in a Buc-ee’s. It’s just not as practical for everyday stops. This is why the Sheetz and Wawa model work so well, convenience.
@@btravisbrown Respectfully if that is your opinion, you either do not live near a Buc-ees or don't know how to properly navigate it.
@@btravisbrowna smaller, non truck stop kwik trip has 20 pumps minimum. And im guessing you can tell by the name it can easily be a sub 3 minute stop lol
Buc-ees is a monument to American hubris
I think I am too European to understand this video.
this is a violently american video i'm afraid
@@PhilEdwardsInc You know I thought I was familiar with Americana, and yet I have never heard of both of these companies before this video. Only learned about Buc-ee's recently. And they say you guys have no culture xD
@@PhilEdwardsInc It's not even American, it's a subset of suburbia, mostly in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and South. No one is pledging allegiance to AM/PM in California.
there's a gas station in the upper midwest called Kum-n-Go. The jokes on road trips are hilarious
@@FirstDaggertake that, opera!
The milk man in the first picture definitely stole that guy's wife 😂
and he liked it?
@@PhilEdwardsInc Guy sitting on the garbage can shed is too well dressed to be living in that trailer. He's obviously the company field trainer, so yes. He's happy to see another conquest by his star pupil.
@PhilEdwardsInc I really shouldn't get your comment, but I do. Thank you internet.
Kum & Go not mentioned due to threat of demonetization. 😂
not wrong!
They don’t exist any longer. Maverik bought them and they are sadly all getting converted.
@@yayinternetsThey came and they went
@@njdotson That’s what she said!
@@yayinternets They're still a going concern in Oklahoma! A new one, built during the pandemic, sits just down the street from me.
1:07 As a Florida resident, the wawa invasion happened in about a year. There were no wawas, next year they were everywhere, with free air for tires and undercutting the local circle k and 7Eleven gas prices by as much as .10 a gallon.
That's what Sheetz is doing in Ohio. They're undercutting gas prices by like 30 cents a gallon when they build a new one.
They’re doing the same thing in Alabama😭😭😭
I remember traveling down and being suprised to find a wawa in Daytona beach, only to find it was the only wawa south of Virginia, but this was years back
Good i hate circle k. Worst gas station
I maintain that Casey's is not a gas station & convenience store that serves pizza, it's a pizza chain that just also sells gas, snacks, alcohol, etc. on the side
I’ll second that
Casey's bought up a smaller chain in my areathe pizza got worse, not better. I bought one slice, never again.
It’s not top tier pizza, but it hits a certain satisfaction when buzzed.
Their breakfast pizza is Mike’s above their regular pizza.
I didn't know Casey's sold gas for years. I'd always heard of it as a pizza chain. No one ever mentioned gasoline to me.
Having grown up around Philadelphia, it always seems weird to hear people describe Wawa as a gas station. To me, they were always a convenience store first and foremost, and some locations also happened to have gas.
You are correct. I'm from Bucks County and most Wawas don't even have gas pumps
What convenience store isn’t a gas station?
@@donkeysaurusrex7881 most 7-11s or Circle Ks in CA were just convenience, no gas. At least when i was growing up. Midwest seems to have fewer of those style of store.
@@donkeysaurusrex7881 In the city. Most Wawa's in Philly are just store fronts.
@@donkeysaurusrex7881 Wawa! The 3 closest to me don't have gas pumps
So interesting. My dad owned a Chevron service station from the 40s to the 90s, so he saw all the trends. I always loved hearing his stories. He didn't make much on gas, so he focused on selling tires where he could. It wasn't until the 90s when he finally got electric gas pumps and a compurtized cash register, and started selling CPGs. When he sold the station in 2000, the new owners closed the 2 service bays and made the whole thing a mini mart because that's where the money is...
wow this is a real microcosm!
My maternal grandfather took over his father's general store in the 1940s.
The addition of gas pumps followed pretty much the same pattern described here. After the state road was moved, he had the store jacked up and moved to the new road. I'm unsure of the exact timeline but gas pumps were added as an incentive to get people to stop on the new fast road.
He stocked dry goods and hardware. He also had a truck my family referred to as the "rolling store" that he would drive out to farms and sell from. Most families didn't have multiple automobiles, so housewives stuck at home were a great market for non-perishables. My mom liked to tag along so she could play with the other kids while Grandad did business.
The gas pumps were something of a Faustian bargain. Underground gas tanks were expensive to install, maintain, and replace when they inevitably leaked. But people would stop for gas on the way to the Army Corps of Engineers lake and stock up on sandwich stuff and soda for their day. (It was a dry county.)
The name for petrol stations in Australia is still, colloquially, "servos" - as in a shortening of "service station". But you're correct; they're going the way of the dinosaur. There's very few with service areas left. New regulations on fuel storages (ie, you can no longer have sixty-year-old single-bunded underground tanks that'll leak ULP and diesel into the earth) meant a lot of those ones with mechanics shut down, and new ones are rarely built with service areas.
Just days ago, i started having conversations about how gas stations don't make their money on gas, and more and more people are treating them as a legitimate grocery store.
The culmination of my questioning is, that people clearly want a bodega style place across the country. Why can't we have more corner grocery stores in neighbourhoods and serve people in a more walkable way?
The crux that was brought up was Dollar General.
We have a lot of smoke shops that operate like that, but the The reason we don't have a lot of tiny convenience stores in most areas of the country anymore or because their prices are high, it's difficult to find staffing to run them, and in most smaller areas they don't really sell all that much because most people who are going on an actual shopping trip will just pack up and go to Walmart
@@zacharyhenderson2902 the cost statement is very true. I'm in one of those very areas. Two vape shops within the distance of a city block, but only one dismal (major company owned) grocery store on the entire half of the town. A town that historically had over a hundred grocers.
There has to be some sort of co-op network that could exist giving small owners leverage on wholesale prices.
@@drewe2331 that's partly why franchise models have traditionally been so successful with convenience stores and fast food. That model just breaks down once you get past 'cokes and smokes'.
Zoning. I think Phil had a video about it, if not, search on these channels: City Beautiful, Not Just Bikes.
When driverless cars take over (and nobody own his own car anymore because it'll be much cheaper to ride Waymo), they'll eventually stop selling gas. ⛽
They'll just have acres and acres of convenience store! 🏪
As a Canadian who hasn’t been to any of them… I’ve always wanted to go to Buc-ee’s
having been to all of these, bucees is a true destination, do it!
It's a religious experience.
It's a NIGHTMARE cocktail of Costco, DisneyWorld and Walmart.
@@KurtHalfyard this but it's a good thing, lol
LOL my west coast family made buc-ees our destination of choice when we visited texas! I want one at home
People will divide over anything.
The rural Iowa town I grew up in had a curbside pump until summer 2020, when it was unfortunately damaged beyond repair by a derecho. The way it worked was each house had a key to use on an attached panel. The local gas company would mail you a bill at the end of the month for whatever you pumped. It was such a loss but a cool relic from the past.
That derecho really did permanently scar our state didn't it.
@@TheLostVectorit really did. I’d argue that its biggest effect was helping speed up the demise of nuclear power in Iowa after the Palo plant got damaged. I moved away from the cedar valley over a decade ago but it still made me really sad to hear about that :/
that's double sad. i just looked up a derecho. it sounds like you guys are talking about a large event? it wasn't isolated? what happened??
@@herzogsbuick Basically, really strong winds swept through large portions of the state and caused a LOT of property damage. It was worse in some areas than others. The sky was a really weird shade of yellow, but thankfully I didn't suffer too much. But whole buildings in some parts had to be rebuilt/undergo serious renovations for months afterwards.
@@herzogsbuickthink of a hurricane in a landlocked state
I work in hazardous waste cleanup and removal.
I promise there is absolutely NO ‘stapling’ a gas station in, at least in any state that cares about their drinking water. The installation, maintenance and replacement will be an astronomical cost.
This coming from a Massachusetts resident, so we obviously have severe environmental precautions. But just the process that allows you to pump gas/diesel from that nozzle is an underground maze of pumps, lines, and 2-10, 8-25k gal tanks. If you go to work early enough or get home late enough, and stop to fill up, you’ll see tankers dropping fuel 2-3 times a week even at the smallest places.
Deserves a whole documentary by itself.
Yea Casey’s has bought up a lot of the gas stations around me as they’ve moved in. As far as I can tell it’s been mostly just a name change, I imagine they’ll trash and replace the buildings
I use to tour a lot as a professional juggler, and my favorite gas stops were always those quirky ones that weren't part of a chain and often had random things like antique stores attached.
Went to a strange one in north Florida that sold taxidermied gator heads
People from upstate New York have an undying loyalty to Stewart’s ice cream/convenience shops. Whatever they’re doing, they’re doing it right.
Yesss go Stewart's! Can't believe I had to scroll this far to find it, I guess it is fairly niche being entirely located within the eastern half of upstate NY lol
I'm from downstate but spent most summers growing up in the Adirondacks, Stewart's is an institution
Yeahhh! I already left a comment to this because I didn't scroll far enough to see yours first - it's another great example of having started as a dairy and then added gas later.
@@capitalkind1 same, Stewart's is absolutely beloved up there. Wish they were south of Duchess
Buc-cees isn't a gas station it's an amusement park.
I remember in the 60's gas station chains had "premiums" where repeat customers could get anything from glassware and towels to toys, kitchenware, or even electronics as rewards.
Some gas stations gave trading stamps, as supermarkets did.
Team Buc-ee's over here. I will hold my pee if there is a Buc-ee's on the way.
Buc-ee’s is just better 🤷
The fact that a smoked brisket sandwich is better at a beaver themed gas station than some restaurants. Also they always have the BEST bathrooms if you are needing to stop on a road trip
As someone who grew up in the heart of Sheetz's empire I have to agree. Buc-ee's does it better. It's a mandatory stop if there's one ahead.
I leaned about Buc-ee’s from an Eddy Burback video and it wasn’t a good impression lol 😂, it seemed way to much and the mascot is a bit 😅
Buc-Ee's instant. Just a gas station though, it's an actual stop on a road trip, just as much as whatever you're going to see
As a midwesterner it goes like this: Casey's is for pizza always and Kwik Trip/Kwik Star for everything else. Also QT is the impostor Kwik Trip don't trust anyone who goes in there.
I’ve never been to a kwik trip but as an okie all I know is that qt is the goat and you don’t know how to spell
How can the original be an imposter?
This is 100% correct. Stopped at a QT once thinking it was a kwik trip on a road trip. It definitely was not.
@@petersartorius2054only reason you'd think QT is the Goat is because you haven't been to a Kwik Trip.
QT is the LeBron of gas stations, but Kwik Trip is the 1992 Dream team
Kwik Trip with a K supremacy
Now I regret not submitting my video! I mentioned that, growing up, Wawa wasn't even a gas station. It was where we got our lunch meats and sandwich bread (hoagie rolls). A charter school I attended as a kid even got its cafeteria cartoned milk and juices from Wawa! I still go to Wawa for ice and milk multiple times a week.
What's apparently surprising is that I think Sheetz is really cool! Every time I'm on a road trip through Sheetz-country, I make sure I stop at one along the way.
Still, there's no place like home. I'll always prefer Wawa!
very diplomatic of you to still respect the sheetz forces
One thing tagt makes me irate these days, is that these new stores are called "convenience stores" but they are far from it by the very definition. Convenience stores are places that have basic essential items everyone needs like basic groceries and household items. But these stores that these gas stations not only feature huge buildings- bigger than Family Doller stores, but basically sell nothing but junk food and snacks. It's extremely frustrating when Walmart closes at 11 and you need something late at night like sour cream or scotch tape but none of these places have them!
Exactly
If there’s nothing open at 11 and you need sour cream. You’re the problem lmao
Ever since covid happened and all the Walmarts and the few grocery chains that stayed open 24/7 closed at midnight it's been impossible to buy anything essential now. They just refuse to stay open 24/7 anymore. I guess they're saving money that way but it's very annoying. At this rate if they haven't opened 24/7 again I doubt they ever will
@@typicalnewyorker5993,
I agree. For 1, I don't see why people can't plan ahead.
2, I don't like sour cream 🤮
I just now realized 7-Eleven was named after their open hours.
I wonder if any of the stores still are only 7am - 11pm, because all the store around me are open 24/7
In high school, I had a friend who worked the 11pm-7am shift at a 7-11. I have no idea how long the hours in their name lasted, but probably not too long.
My life as a Floridian has vastly improved since Wawa moved to town a few years ago
1:54 quick trip? or kwik trip? these are very important distinctions! phil’s fanning the flames of the turf war over here!
i did some research to figure out which one he was referring to- take my duty seriously
@PhilEdwardsInc Kwik Trip is the BEST gas station. Their Glazers pushed Krispy Kreme out of the donut game in Wisconsin!
This was my exact thought! I’ve never heard a single solitary soul ride hard for Quick Trip; but I’ve heard *legions* of Wisconsinites do so for Kwik Trip!
@@silendtoh I promise you here in the Midwest we absolutely love QuikTrip!
@@silendt As a Texan, my heart is a Buc-ee’s beaver heart. But my soul… my soul yearns for QuikTrip!
Why this works so well: yesterday on my way from work, I know we needed some milk and one or two other basic things. I also had less than 1/2 tank of gas. Made a plan to stop at Kwik Trip on the way home (different exit) and got those items + a cold drink in probably 5-6 minutes. Multiply this by millions and you’ve got a nice industry.
new englander checking in with the canadians and europeans. and kind of hungry for a gas station italian sub.
And Costco went the other way, subsidizing their low gas prices by annual memberships and bulk purchases.
None are inherently “convenient” unless it’s a small store like an old 7-Eleven that just randomly happens to be on your route.
The only time I go into gas stations is on road trips. Otherwise it's pay at the pump and go!
Problems is card skimmers on the pumps and inside happens. Easier for me just to pay in cash and avoid it altogether.
@@seashackf1 The odds may be better, but plenty of examples of skimming inside too. There are videos on RUclips of skimmers being installed in just a couple seconds while the clerk is distracted. Nothing is foolproof except cash.
@@PsRohrbaugh I know, that’s why I specifically said “and inside” and why I pay cash to avoid although. I’ve seen those videos and the clerks weren’t distracted, they were 100% in on it.
Where I live, Buckee’s is a big thing. I’ve been to them a couple times, mostly for gas, but they did have a good barbecue sandwich. I don’t go shopping there because it’s too expensive just like all of them are. Buckee’s is nice though and it’s always clean.
I never hear arguments online about any other state’s convenient stores except for Pennsylvania’s. It’s all always about Wawa and Sheetz and it just makes me wonder why no other state has this thing going on to this degree.
I don’t think there’s another state as big as PA that’s as divided as PA culturally, so that definitely fuels it. But it’s all in good fun. The Wawa/Sheetz divide also follows the hockey & football split pretty closely as well. You’re either all about the Pittsburgh Penguins & Steelers or the Philadelphia Flyers & Eagles. In my teen years, I saw a similar split in CT over baseball (Yankees vs Red Sox) which split pretty perfectly over the Connecticut River, but neither team actually belonged to the state, so the passion was more passive unless it was playoffs. Here in PA though, it’s personal in that they’re our teams & our chains. People also feel particularly passionate about Wawa because of what they do for our community & that they are all family-owned. It may be a large-ish corporation, but it’s still a family owned empire which is rare these days. They don’t franchise. All branches are owned by one family member or another who all own a stake in the larger company. But Wawa does a lot for our community. They helped improve public transit here. They offer scholarships for low income kids. They have plenty of corner stores without gas stations that serve an important role in walkable neighborhoods & perhaps more so, in lower income but not very walkable neighborhoods.
Another reason folks love Wawa around here is they provide a delicious but equally convenient alternative to Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, & Subway. Local hoagie shops aren’t always the most convenient but Wawa usually is & is locally owned too. Starbucks has a way of being a public nuisance that Wawa manages to avoid & Wawa everything is just better than Dunkin, in every way.
Ohio is slowly being taken over by Sheetz but there’s no real competition for them here so nobody complains
It's not all that serious, just a silly PA rivalry.. they actually work together sometimes..
@@Chaotic_Pixiejust to add Sheetz is also family owned and ranks highly each year on places to work for both are great, but Sheetz has way more variety finally Wawa is branching out to central pa though so the clash will truly begin
@@austinroessler7705 I’ve never been to a Sheetz. I do know that those that I know will choose Wawa coffee over Sheetz coffee. When our little coffee fiend came to visit, she just gaped at the selection of flavors & that wasn’t including all the artisan coffees that have to be made to order.
If we’re using war as an analogy, then the mom & pop gas station is Poland - overrun and demolished from both sides.
Very little of the revenue from these large companies stay in the communities in which they operate.
Between Walmart, Ace Hardware, Dollar General, Sheetz/WaWa, and fast food & corporate restaurant chains, the number of successful small businesses in many small towns is an order of magnitude lower than it was 60 years ago.
8:47 😂 Circle K didn’t even make your list 🤣 Here in Arizona, 95% of our convenience stores are Circle K’s. No name Mom & Pop convenience stores are far more common than QTs and 7-11s but we have those too. The vast majority of Circle K’s stores are ugly & dirty with broken equipment. I hope they aren’t allowed to buy 🇯🇵 7-11s stores.
Circle K bought out Holiday Stations in the Midwest and are slowly rebranding. Second your opinion on them and it feels like the quality is dropping pretty quickly as the changeover progresses.
In Champaign-Urbana, the majority of convenience store/gas stations are Circle K. Over the last couple of decades, Circle K bought up smaller chains in the area, which gave them Circle K stores that were near other Circle K stores, sometimes directly across the street from each other. After COVID hit, and people were working from home more and driving less, Circle K closed most of the stores that were near other ones. The locations are up for sale, but I think Circle K is trying to make sure they aren't used for another convenience store, which has probably slowed down the rate of re-occupancy. Casey's, QuikTrip and Road Ranger are also in town, but just one outlet each, near the interstate highways.
@@ztl2505 Ugh, I _hope_ they don't go the way SuperAmerica did. Holiday stores have long been nicer and better-kept than late-stage SuperAmerica -- and the Speedway stores they got rebranded to.
That said, I'd gladly stop at Kwik Trip more ... if they actually had stores in the inner suburbs where I am. Here in the Twin Cities, Holiday and SuperAmerica already sealed up the urban and first- and second-ring suburban markets before Kwik Trip ever got here. And with Kwik Trip's larger store footprints, there aren't many places they can shoehorn in to truly compete.
(Casey's used to have more of a presence before both, but got driven out by competition with Holiday and SA. They've since returned in the exurbs and in rural areas ... and the occasional oddball closer in.)
As it is, I go to Holiday, or I go to a small neighborhood supermarket that's almost as convenient as a convenience store -- especially since it's in walking distance of my house! (There's a BP with a food mart that's closer than both, but it's not as good in price, selection, _or_ atmosphere.)
That’s because Circle K is a joke
I never liked old Circle K stores, which were small and run down. Couche-Tard, the Quebecois retailer who owns them now, is making a massive investment into new larger CK’s that are as nice as a Wawa or QT. Plus they are investing in high quality EV charging at their locations. CK is the number one EV charging provider in Norway, for instance. My opinion has really come around with newer Circle K outlets in recent years.
Nothing will make me survive a long road trip like the chimis from an Allsup's. And you never forget the taco sauce. Allsup's is one of the reasons they call New Mexico the land of enchantment
I'll have to give them another try next time I'm in New Mexico. My only experience was at the one in Tatum, in the absolute ass end of nowhere and it was shockingly bad. Like stepping back to a store in the 80s: dirty, poorly stocked and with the worst toilet in all of New Mexico.
Love the video, went to school in Philly before moving back to NY. Miss Wawa every day and will always go to one when I’m back in Philly! The Thanksgiving gobbler is my favorite!
I have a friend who transferred from Wilmington, DE to Pittsburgh, PA… and she longs for Wawa. They rented a beach house this summer with her family & she said she ate so much Wawa she managed to gain weight in the summer for the first time ever. 😂 It’s that sort of energy that I think people don’t get. You miss the food. You miss clerks who remember your face. You miss seeing the same employees year after year. You miss just how good the coffee is & that it never tastes burnt.
Another gas station chain with a following that wasnt named in the video is Cumberland Farms! They started in Rhode Island as a dairy delivery service, and now run small gas stations and convenience stores in New England and Florida.
Moved away from Philadelphia to MN (no WaWa) at age 28. Visiting Florida and finding a WaWa was a nostalgic filled experience of seeing an old comfortable friend. Turkey Shorti, a soft pretzel, and Goldberg Peanut Chews; yes please.
Wow, suddenly I understand a lil more why Casey’s went so hard in their absurd “Famous for pizza” motto rebrand a couple of years ago. I always thought it was weird that a gas station sold pizza but in reality this is a convenience store with a kitchen element that sells gas too.
Decades ago, I had an interview at Wawa Corporate which was by far my weirdest job interview ever... looking forwards to reading your newsletter!
The thing about buccees (can’t speak for the other chains) is that 1 buccees replaces an entire insterstate exit. These exits used to contain multiple options for gas stations and multiple options for food.
With a buccees exit you get drawn in for the cheap gas, but if you need food too, you’ll be forced into fewer options at a higher price. The only option left is stopping again at the next exit.
they aren't as concerned with being the cheapest on gas anymore, sadly.
I've noticed the opposite at the Buc-ee's in Terrell TX near where I grew up. It's just west of where a spur highway splits off of I-20, so there's an area between the two highways (the middle) and areas north and south of it. Before Buc-ee's went in there was only one gas station in the middle area and one gas station with a Denny's inside and a restaurant on the north side. Then Buc-ee's opened up in the middle area, and now the rest of the middle area is literally almost fully developed. There's a strip mall with big-box stores, there's at least 10 restaurants (both fast food and sit-down), there are hotels, there are multiple apartment complexes, and there's a car dealership. All where 10 years ago there was just empty fields and one single gas station. The north side also added a car dealership and the south side is still just fields, but the area between the highways is literally unrecognizable from when I was a kid.
This reminded me the WSJ made a video a couple months ago about 7 Elevens in the US changing to be more like what they are in Japan. These convenience stores are evolving to stay relevant/profitable.
Meanwhile, a Quebec company is apparently trying to buy 7 Eleven.
@@WilliamPitcher The parent of Circle K.
That would be nice if they would be more like the Japanese 7-Elevens. Everything I've heard says the Japanese ones are the GOAT, while the US ones are just dismal, especially compared to the competition referenced in this video (Sheetz, Wawa, Kwik Trip/Kwik Star, Buc-ees, etc.)
As a kid growing up in Jersey, gas stations terrified me. You're not allowed to leave the car, unless you have to go to the bathroom, where you have to go beg some scary guy in a dirty cramped shack for a key go around back to use a dirty cramped outhouse. While you're sitting there trapped in a hot gross car, some other scary guy looms over you asking complicated questions about gasoline types. Then you have to do an awkard hand-off of cash and change through a window always spilling change everywhere. Then I moved to the mid-west where we could get out and have a walk or explore a cool, clean store with all this fun stuff and pump our own gas and clean the windows while we were waiting. And it was clean and not gross, or scary. Plus the midwest has these things called plants that jersey doesn't have. Trees, bushes, flowers and grasses, like the woods or a farm, but actually places where people live and work. At times I would visit that dirty horrible cramped place where people love their wawa, but now I'm back in PA, my choice... my turkey hill
hahah what a bittersweet tale
I gotta give Royal Farms a shoutout here.
There's nothing funnier to me than Royal Farms trying to push in on Wawa's territory, but failing because of some weird corporate loyalty
Found the Marylander!
@@elbowache their territories overlap but RF is more expensive for no reason
yea but Royal farms customer service is absolutely the worst. I hate that place.
Gotta say, very smooth promotion of your newsletter/patreon in the middle there, Phil. Felt very much a part of the video and not a very noticeable commercial break. Congrats
The funny thing is for years Wawa did not cross Lancaster County but now they are opening stores here in Dauphin County. I am at the center of the war. You can literally see the Wawa they are building in Middletown (where I live) from the Sheetz. That's how close they are.
Sheetz food is honestly ass they nuke everything that doesn't get thrown in a deep frier that hasn't had its oil changed
in a month.
I live in Dauphin County as well, I was going to comment that it’s the front lines in the Sheetz/Wawa war now!
They are building so much in south central PA it's insane. There's a spot where they're building 2 Wawa's extremely close to eachother that some people would only have to drive 3-5 minutes to get to each one from both directions.
Having worked at Kwik trip for a few years now it’s slightly better than working at most other fast food places. All food is frozen and reheated and is passable as food real food. (Just don’t look at how much sodium is in anything) They pay slightly better than other places. Take cleanliness very seriously. However they only open places in “nice”(white) neighborhoods.
13:50 Sheetz actually already has ev charging in 95 locations as of last year.
Wawa says it has them at 175 fuel locations
@@gabrielpalmer7516 Awesome! It is already happening.
i used to work at sheetz. one of the first things my trainer said was that sheetz wasnt a gas station. it was a restaurant that also happened to serve gas. still one of the best places ive ever worked at
Electric car owner - I hope more stations go the same route Royal Farms is going and adds a huge bay of chargers in addition to pumps. They also have giant fiberglass roosters and cute little weathervanes on their stores and shill fried chicken that I’ve never tried but yeah, love the willingness to capitalize on paying customers who have to sit there for 20 minutes. I believe there’s at least one Wawa in Delaware that has a similar setup and it’s made a great stop on our way to the beach over the past couple of years.
There's a convenience store/gas station on I-37 that has at least a dozen superchargers and is cobranded with a fast-food restaurant. This seems to be the next top model.
I just did a Michigan to DC weekend trip with my Bolt and half my charges were at Sheetz, They are just now opening up stores in SE Michigan and NW Ohio
As a midwesterner that's lived on both coasts and in both the north and the south, I can unequivocally say that the top two gas station chains are KwikTrip(KwikStar) and WaWa, with Buc-ee's in 3rd only because it's more of a travel center
As someone from Los Angeles, this isn't a thing here. I think most people would disgusted by the idea of eating hot-served food at a gas station. Considering the state of most gas station bathrooms, you can imagine the state of the kitchen in a gas station.
I live near Philly so I can only speak to Wawa, but the deli section is pretty open and clean. All the hoagies are made to order...I don't think categorizing it as "gas station food" is a fair statement. More like convenient stores that also sell gas haha
Sheetz fan from Ohio here, the thing is it doesn't really feel like a gas station, it's a store that happens to also sell gas. I've stopped by the place pretty often when going back home from my college night classes just to eat there because their open so late and the food is good.
I was dubious until I traveled and started going inside and trying it. In Iowa Casey's is such an institution that people in those small towns order their Weekend pizza from there and won't touch Pizza Hut, Domino's or any of the major delivery chains.
As someone else from Los Angeles, Wawa is top tier trust me. The sandwiches are way better than most of the chains we have here
You say that now, but you've never had two hot dogs for $1...
My favorite is Kwik Trip, though that's largely because it's the only example of this type of store common in my area.
This is how children fight.
"My thing is better than your thing!"
We have Cumberland Farms up here in the Northeast. They originated in RI, and have been expanding. While offering decent stuff, the prices keep going up. As of late, I mostly avoid them. Their gas is mostly low-grade. My favorite is a place out west called "Kum and go". Fun name.
Another random thing that Wawa had, then got rid of, but is now back, is Lottery sales. They got rid of it when the clerk/workers had to individually sell tickets. The margins were way too small for the time it took and lines it caused (interfering with other, higher margin sales). When the self service Lottery machines came out Wawa brought it back.
I find it really interesting that very few of them have picked up on EV charging stations. It’s literally the perfect opportunity to capture customers for 15 or 20 minutes while they buy things in your store. I’ve been seeing more of them, but it’s really taking a long time.
I am watching this video after eating a six-pack of tacos last night at Sheetz. I drank Buccee's coffee twice yesterday and I am eating a Hawaiian pizza from Casey's. Yep. I am all into the gas station food
this is like an olympic event!
@@PhilEdwardsInc I have been travelling this weekend. They all have their high points. Buccee's is the cheapest place to buy gas, if you come across them they are going to be cheaper so top off or fill up your tank. I love that their coffee bar has caused the self serve coffee areas at gas stations to change to copy Buccee's.
Sheetz is just good with their endless options that are good to go 24 hours a day. Nothing is bad, nor healthy for you from their food ordering.
Casey's is all about Pizza and their coffee. They are around the corner from my house and I didn't want to cook.
@@accampbell As the name implies, I travel constantly and I have found that Buc-ee's is not as determined to be the low price leader on fuel anymore. You can find it cheaper near them on Gas Buddy a lot of the times.
I don't drive so until my recent job, which provides transportation, I have grown to love Kwik Trip.
The top dogs are Buc-ee's and United Dairy Farmers. I am not from Ohio, but ice cream on every corner is something I can live with.
Buc-cee's is just on another level.
UDF is my ideal ice cream, sad it's such a localized brand
I like UDF, but it's not on the same playing field as Sheetz.
My father owned a service station from after WWII (Gulf) through the 50s & 60s name changes (Humble/Enco, Exxon), to his retirement in the 1970s (Phillips 66). There was even a Ladies' Auxiliary of owners in San Antonio. I can remember gas getting down to 10 cents a gallon, state maps, S&H Green Stamps, giveaways. My father said his money didn't come from the sale of gas, but from the double bay garage attached to his station. As the big oil companies began to require owners to become managers of company-owned stations, he retired. In San Antonio, convenience stores are still called "ice houses".
I don't know if it's still there, but in Manassas, VA there at least used to be a 7-11 next to a gas station that had a 7-11 for the store. I stayed away from drugs as a teenager, but this might have been the first time I can remember thinking that I was hallucinating.
I believe you. Dearborn MI used to have Kroger stores directly across from each other.
sheetz and wawa are in a league of their own. i guess so is buccee’s. casey’s recently took over several pilot gas stations where i went to school and casey’s is just like any other uninspired convenience store chain i’ve ever known, and they are not a chain worth having any loyalty towards. sheetz and wawa are worth that loyalty. they are innovative and provide an excellent customer experience whether you’re filling up your tank or going inside for a meal or a snack. no confusing sales or sneaky overcharging or misleading advertising. and they pay and treat their staff well, something you can tell when you walk inside.
I like the Buc-ee’s veggie breakfast sandwiches and super clean bathrooms - but it is far too big and trying to leave the parking area can be a nightmare. For me , Wawa > Sheetz because every sandwich I’ve had from Sheetz has been bad.
I’m originally from Philly and grew up on Wawa. I currently live in the Richmond, VA area where we have a mix of Sheetz & Wawa. I miss when Wawa wasn’t a gas station. Wawa had a deli and made hoagies with love. When they switched over to pre-sliced meats & cheeses. I haven’t had Sheetz food yet. I mainly use them for gas. That’s the advantage over Wawa they have to me. Sheetz offers $.03 off when you scan your rewards card. If you shop inside your reward points add up of course for items inside but also for gas.
It depends on which WAWAS you go to
Wawa added rewards. One of the rewards is 0.15 discount per gallon or 0.30 depending on how many points you want to spend. Its not usable in my state but it might help you out.
As a Mississippian, I have never been to a single one of these places. They're all fighting for me they just don't know it yet
Buc-ee's is winning that race, they're building a 74,000 sq ft store in Biloxi that's supposed to open in the summer of 2025. Plan your road trip now! 😅
Just go to a grocery store, there is no need to over pay for the same things. All that food is also available at the grocery store, and it costs less.
Help with a video... You would cringe at how much people buy sugar at my station.
@@theuniversedoesntcare Yea probably, I am one of the few people who does all of their shopping online. It is so easy to compare prices, and the prices for gas station items are just stupidly expensive. Often double or triple, but people are so lazy in person they don't care and pay it because they are waiting for their gas to fill up.
If you are driving from Saint Louis to San Diego there is probably not a Publix when you pull off the Interstate way out in the boonies to get gas. There will be a 7/11 style convenience store though.
@@StevenHughes-hr5hp there is one is saint louis and san diego. Buy things before a road trip starts.
One of my earliest memories, probably from the late 1960s, is us buying a Christmas tree at a 7-Eleven in East Dallas at Abrams and Richmond. That same 7-Eleven is still there. A Christmas tree.
That 7-Eleven was across from an "Enco" gas station, previously Esso, later Exxon. That's gone.
2:34 crazy that’s how EV charging is pretty much set up now
Being from PA, ex military traveled the world, and settled in Westrn NV ... its crazy to see these mega brands in the USA and how they operate!!!
I don't think I've set foot inside of a gas station since they invented pumps with credit card readers so I find this all very strange.
Phil, I can always count on you for thoroughly-researched and smartly/entertainmentingly presented information-information I need to have in these troubled times. I've wandered into Wawa in Flawada. I've kum to Kum 'n' Go in Nebwaska. I recently had my first look-ee inside a Buc-ee's, here in Tenness-ee. But I didn't know sheetz about Sheetz. So, thank you. 🤓
So in Canada, we do not have anything like this. Our gas stations often have convenience stores, but they are tiny ones, often run just by the one person working there. Yet all the gas stations are self-pump. Any thoughts on why this didn't catch on in Canada?
This sort of did take off up here, just not in the iconic east coast US way. Circle-K, Mac's, 7-11, and Beckers are the big players I know about in Canada, although Circle-K and Mac's no longer actually compete (and have been the same company for a very long time). At least in Calgary: smokes, transit tickets, and lottery are at least as important as gas for the initial hook in the inner city, and that is also true of larger cities in the states. But among the type of commuters that grab breakfast or lunch en route, they can be very particular about the food as well.
I am from the southwestern US natively, and I would say the culture around convenience stores there is very similar to here, although I do miss the breakfast tacos along my commute in Austin and the Tamale truck that started operating at 8:30 am every Wednesday in the parking lot of the Exxon station a few blocks from my office in Houston. Then again, I have been car free since moving to Canada most of a decade ago so my take on the culture is more aligned with typical Canadian transit riders.
On the east cost there are Irving Big Stops!
Because you are culturally irrelevant, the majority of your institutions are not Canadian. That being said you guys do act the same whenever we talk about how Timmy's is just burger king breakfast.
I've only ever seen huge Co-op grocery stores with gas stations in the front in very small towns in the prairie provinces.
I live in Southern California and with the exception of 7-11 none of those chains exist here. In addition, if a gas station is more than 20 years old it’s just like the one you have in Canada. In other words, it’s just one person in a small room who runs the station and sells a handful of items like candy, cigarettes, and soft drinks.
Im glad you came to the correct conclusion in the end.
I used to drive through Pennsylvania several times a year between 1982 and 1994, and I don’t remember seeing any Wawa or Sheetz. Maybe they had not expanded that much back then.
Now I live in California, and the gas station stores seem less prominent. I go to a small one nearby only for lottery tickets.
Yeah, most of them here are your classic renditions of a Kwik E Mart, not whole destinations in and of themselves
It's definitely a more recent thing. I don't remember seeing any Sheetz either growing up until the 2000s
this is also an argument as to why convenience stores need to add electric chargers. not to mention the fact charging takes longer and will thus keep the person there longer
We in Las Vegas have nothing cool like this. That being said, Buc-ees is on a different level entirely. 7-11, Wawa, and Sheets are smaller than a Buc-ees restroom.
Maverik. Maverik is the best out west
@@craigrison007 Maverik is a gas station. It's like the people shouting about QuikTrip... LOL.
As a Canadian, it’s mind-boggling to see such dedication to gas stations. By the end of the video, though, I realized that our gas stations, still mostly owned by petroleum companies, are lagging behind in the services they offer. I can’t even remember the last time I stepped into a gas station store or bought anything from one.
We don't have much in California other than 7-Eleven, there's not much of a war or consistency.
Circle K and ampm used to be popular but they slowly died out.
Yeah, there is nothing on the scale of these other chains. 7-11 is also wildly inconsistent, and many of them aren't attached to a gas station. They aren't really known for their food.
@@BurritoKingdomam-pm is still fairly common to see in the Central Valley, but I wouldn’t say it really earns any distinction from 7-11. They might as well be the same place, selling candy bars and greasy old hot dogs.
@@mushieslushieI’m in Ventura County and the only 7-11s that sell gas were built in the last 20 years. I don’t know of a single one older than that that sells gas.
And 7-11 has no gas
Maverick on top, love the aesthetic they have inside.
As a New Mexican, I have to say that I feel the permian basin powerhouse that is Allsups should have gotten more screen time despite not having an obvious rivalry like out east anymore (rip Pick Quik)
i was hoping for a video testimonial but didn't get it. i am definitely trying in when next in new mexico
@@PhilEdwardsInc while you’re there don’t forget to stop by Blake’s Lottaburger and try their breakfast burritos too! :P
Floridian here. Life changed when Wawa came to town
You haven't lived until you have been to Bucee's. That being said, I don't think I have been to a Wawa's, but Sheets, Quick-Trip, Casey's, etc don't hold a candle to the creepy beaver and his nuggets.
I always keep waiting for these great amazing videos. I need more.
Casey’s pizza is the sustenance of life
Heck yeah!
the breakfast pizza is like no other
their burgers are awesome, too
Shame the donuts have really fallen off. I used to love their cake donuts
As a Marylander, gotta go with Royal Farms.
I mean, they did just win an award this year for best food from a gas station by USA Today
Wawa is king! As someone who has live on both coasts and in the Midwest, nothing has topped my experience at Wawa.
I love how you showed the gas station map and it’s my home county. Bucks loves this video!
There is a small chain here in Colorado and parts of the midwest which, swear to god is called Kum & Go that doesn't get enough love
Kum & Go is actually based in Iowa, and really does deserve more love. It was by far the best gas station I've worked at, and I'd probably still be there if the one in my town hadn't sold the building to a competitor. On the bright side, I have so much themed merch from the store because we employees were allowed to keep any branded merch when my location shut down. Been rocking my Kum & Go bucket hat and flip flops this summer!
Weird name
Kum and Go is still the funniest store name I've ever seen. I only discovered it was a thing because they had a exclusive soda flavor I learned about and couldn't believe it existed
I grew up in South Jersey, and in the 90s, you couldn’t drive 10m without hitting another Wawa, but none of them sold gas! In the past 25 years, every time I visit again, I see that more and more of the original Wawas have been demolished and replaced with what we (and maybe they?) used to call “Super Wawas” (with gas).
Idk what they put in that tuna salad, but it’s one of the few things that can make me long for New Jersey.
I live on the West Coast where we don't have this nonsense. 7-11 is around, but I don't know who goes there.
Slurpees are the main reason to go to 7-11.
Or if they're near public transit and you want a quick snack. Or you're in a dense urban area, the 7-11 is within walking distance, and the closest supermarket/eatery already closed for the night.
Gas stations are trash in California, it's an east coast thing
And 7-11 doesn't have gas
@@seanthe100buccees proves you wrong
It's the same here in the great lakes. We have 7-11 & Speedway, but 7-11 here rarely sells gas, Speedway is basically the gas station equivalent of 7-11. We are in the middle of all the "gas wars" yet don't have any of them.. but Buc-ee's & Sheetz are starting to move in.
There is a direct correlation in New Jersey between buying at a convenience store and having attendant-station gas stations. As the only state to have it, you might want to consider studying or showing what happens. It may be a boring study, but there we are.
I now want to see Harris and Walz do a convenient store tour where at some point she says,"Whether you love Sheets, WaWa, or Buc-ee's, the one thing we all have in common is that we're Americans!"
> Entire country used *Audible groan*
I call 🧀
I heard that she said, "Walz is Wawa under the Sheetz!"
Out in the west half of the country, we have Maverik. They have their own frontier theme going on. It saved us on these long road trips during vacations.
I’m from Altoona. Wawa is a threat to society. I’m worried for the welfare of me and my family living just a few hours from a Wawa.
be vigilant
One of my best friends lives in Altoona. He always takes me to a Sheetz anytime I go up there and I'm always impressed. I'm from the mountains of Virginia if you're wondering and all we have are the Hunt's Bros pizza's in different gas stations. Damn good pizza!
I live near the first store , and I agree it's destroyed the area they were great when there weren't huge super wawas taking swaths of land
Pharmacies are the same way. They are actually just convenience stores with pharmacies in the back lol
Wawa is what you bring home to mom. Sheetz is the 2 am “you up?” text.
hahaha
As a native Philadelphian I went many years before I found out that there were Wawa gas stations. It kind of blew my mind because I only ever thought of them as convenience stores. I guess now I understand that they are kind of just convenience stores and some of them also sell gas. Also TIL Wawa is big in Florida, how interesting
Ice?
Ice baby. Stop. Collaborate and listen.
Ice is back with the brand new edition.
First gas station chain to install toilet seat covers at every location gets my vote for life.
0:51 There’s a Wawa in North Carolina now. It’s in Kitty Hawk. So there should be a tiny red dot coming from the NC sound.
my data set needs updating! apparently alabama too!