Sheetz Confirms Site for First Indiana Store, Part of $1 Billion, 100-Store Plan

Sheetz has an address now. The chain's first Indiana store will go up at 1505 East 86th Street, in Indianapolis' North Central neighborhood, Chain Store Age and C-Store Dive reported September 30. Groundbreaking is set for next spring. The doors open late summer 2027. Sheetz announced a $1 billion, 100-store commitment to Indiana back in April; this is the first site tied to it, and it makes Indiana the chain's eighth state.

Sheetz has been a family business since 1952, when Bob Sheetz turned a small string of Altoona, Pennsylvania dairy stores into the convenience format that still carries his name. Today, under President and CEO Travis Sheetz, the company runs more than 830 stores across Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio and Michigan, built on 24/7 touchscreen food ordering and big-box travel centers along major corridors. It entered Ohio nearly three decades ago, added 50 stores around Columbus starting in 2021, and moved into Michigan in 2024. Indiana is next.

The 86th Street site sits on a busy North Central corridor, the kind of high-traffic parcel Sheetz usually picks when it enters a new metro. The company says it's gotten "a significant number of inquiries" from Indiana residents wondering when Sheetz would show up. It marked the occasion with a $25,000 donation to Special Olympics Indiana. This isn't a one-off. Sheetz says the first wave of Indiana stores will cluster around greater Indianapolis, then spread across the state.

Indiana already has plenty of convenience chains. Thorntons, Circle K, Shell and GetGo Cafe + Market are all established there. The newer entrants are moving fast too: RaceTrac has opened three Indiana stores since 2023, QuikTrip has two since 2025, and Wawa, which arrived just last year, is already talking about 60 Indiana stores by 2033.

Nearly $1 billion over ten years. A hundred stores, about ten a year. More than 3,000 long-term jobs, roughly 30 to 35 people per store. None of that is just talk: a $145 million distribution center in Findlay, Ohio opened this year to supply the growing store count, and Michigan, where Sheetz arrived in 2024, will reach 16 stores by the end of this year. Ohio, the 2021 Columbus expansion, Michigan, and now Indiana are all part of the same Midwest buildout.

Travis Sheetz, Sheetz's president and CEO, pointed to the company's reception in Ohio and Michigan when explaining the timing. "This momentum has been reinforced by the enthusiastic response to our unique offerings in new Midwest markets," he said.

Sheetz is promising 100 stores in Indiana over ten years. That works out to about ten stores a year, spread across the whole state. Brokers working the Indianapolis arterials will see them arrive a few at a time, not all at once.

Three other large chains are also building in Indiana right now. Wawa wants 60 stores by 2033. RaceTrac and QuikTrip are both still adding locations too. That leaves a short list of corner lots and out-parcels with real traffic counts, and several chains bidding on the same ones.

The Findlay, Ohio distribution center cost $145 million. Sheetz doesn't spend that kind of money to support one state. The 86th Street site, a dense neighborhood on a major corridor close to other retail, is probably close to the template for whatever Sheetz announces next in Indiana.