5. Sheetz
If you find yourself in Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, or North Carolina, make sure you take a break from driving and go to Sheetz. This is an American chain of convenience stores and coffee shops. The store has been offering services 24/7 since the 1980s, and it’s owned by a family named Sheetz.
The menu is available for orders 24/7, and you can choose from several options, such as sandwiches, salads, smoothies, wraps, and subs. A few of these locations are also full-scale truck stops, and they include services such as laundromats and showers.
4. Rutter’s
In 1921, Rutter’s started as a dairy farm in York, Pennsylvania. The first “Rutter’s Farm Stores” was opened on February 22, 1968. The convenience store brand was founded by the second generation of the Rutter family, and afterwards, the store continued to be managed by the third and fourth generations.
In 2018, the store’s management decided that the name of the brand was too long, so they decided to change it from “Rutter’s Farm Stores” to simply “Rutter’s”.
If you get a craving for fatty, fast-food-type foods, make sure to stop by at “Rutter’s”, and choose a burger, a sandwich, a pizza, or even a taco. If you want something a little bit more on the healthier side, then a bowl of fried rice or a platter of fried seafood should satisfy your appetite.
3. Hy-Vee
Hy-Vee is an employee-owned company in the Midwestern United States. It is a chain of supermarkets with more than 200 locations in states like Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Kansas.
The company was founded in 1930 by two men, David Vredenburg and Charles Hyde in Beaconsfield, Iowa. Their first location was in a small brick building, which was known by the name Beaconsfield Supply Store. Nowadays, this building is part of the National Register of Historic Places.
These stores are not only gas station stores, but actually, full-service supermarkets, which sell things such as baked goods and delicatessens. They also have floral departments, dine-in, and carryout food services, alcohol, such as wine and spirits, pharmacies, health clinics, and also organic and natural products. If you crave a good coffee, you can choose one from their coffee kiosks, such as Caribou Coffee and Starbucks.
In 2015, the biggest Hy-Vee’s store was opened in Bloomington, Illinois, and it has 108,000 square feet of retail space. At some of the company’s properties, you can also find convenience stores, full-service restaurants, and also fitness centers.
The company’s slogan, “A Helpful Smile in Every Aisle”, was acquired in 1963, for their first television commercial. In the 1990s, their slogan became a jingle with music by James Poulsen and Annie Meacham.
