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FARTBOSS420 t1_j9b8iby wrote

Bob Sheetz!

>Sheetz, Inc. was founded by G. Robert "Bob" Sheetz in 1952 when he purchased one of his father's five dairy stores located in Altoona [Pencilvania] In 1961, Bob hired his brother Steve to work part-time.

And Wawa I just learned has a way longer history.

>In the 1700s people from Philadelphia and New Jersey settled Wawa [Pencilvania] due to the community's abundance of water. Various mills, including gristmills and paper mills, opened on area creeks.[2] Wawa was originally known as Pennellton[3] and Grubb's Bridge. When Edward Worth built an estate here, he named it "Wawa",[4] the Ojibwe word for "wild goose",[a] because of the flocks of geese attracted to the still water behind Lenni milldam. The name had been transferred to the town by 1884.[3] Forge Hill was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 7, 1973.[5]

>The Wawa business began in 1803 as an iron foundry.[6] In 1890, George Wood, an entrepreneur from New Jersey,[9] moved to Delaware County, Pennsylvania; it was here that he began the Wawa Dairy Farm.[9] Wood imported cows from the British Crown dependency island of Guernsey, and bought 1,000 acres (400 ha) of land in the Chester Heights area;[9] the corporate headquarters would later be renamed Wawa. Since pasteurization was not yet available, many children faced sickness from consuming raw milk. Wood arranged for doctors to certify his milk was sanitary and safe for consumption, which convinced many consumers to buy the product.[9] The strategy worked, and allowed the Wawa dairy to grow. Demand for dairy products grew rapidly during the 1920s, and so did the company. Wawa began using the slogan "Buy Health by the Bottle"; they served customers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, delivering milk to customers' homes.

>In the 1960s, however, many consumers began buying milk in stores instead of using home delivery. Wawa started to open its own stores to adjust to these market changes.[6][9] On April 16, 1964, Grahame Wood, George Wood's grandson, opened the first Wawa Food Market at 1212 MacDade Boulevard in Folsom, Pennsylvania,[10] which remained in operation until June 17, 2016, when it closed in favor of a new "Super Wawa" down the street. A parade was held from the original location to the new store on opening day.[8][11][12]

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