Sheetz orders up more space in Pittsburgh's Bakery Square

Any given Sheetz convenience store location is recognizable by its bright red décor and liberal use of the letter Z.

But its Bakery Square presence is a bit more unassuming in a former industrial space along Penn Avenue where the Altoona-based retailer is expanding, adding 20,000 square feet to accommodate its growing ranks of employees working in information technology, data and innovations and other corporate positions.

“Basically these are the people behind the scenes who make sure our stores run 24/7,” said Emily Sheetz, vice president of strategy and IT.

The company first opened a tech hub in Bakery Square in 2019. Employees were housed in the Spaces co-working venue. Sheetz eventually opened its own location in part of a building once owned by Matthews International. The new space doubles the chain’s footprint.

Emily Sheetz said the company found that during the pandemic, the Pittsburgh office was in high demand because of its location and its culture.

“A lot of different departments across the organization said ‘Oh, you have a Pittsburgh office? I’m going to hire someone from Brand for the Pittsburgh office, from Legal, from Environmental, from HR, Cybersecurity, the list goes on,” Emily Sheetz said. “So we’ve grown.”

The location has about 70 workers now, she said, but has room for up to 120. The project represents an investment of about $5 million.

One benefit is being close to universities like Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh in Oakland and tech companies like Google, also in Bakery Square, she said.

CEO Travis Sheetz said the idea behind the Pittsburgh office is “transformative innovation.”

“It might lead to businesses not related to Sheetz today,” the chief executive said. “There could be work around the core business, or work that just makes our business better.”

While the family-owned company has about 600 stores throughout Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic, there are not any stores within the Pittsburgh city limits.

Travis Sheetz said the company has considered adding Pittsburgh stores.

“That falls in the innovation bucket — an urban store that makes sense,” he said. “You can’t just throw in a store with some gas pumps. It’s an idea to be iterated on.”