News
Across from a Wawa, no less. Plus, Shark Tank is coming to Philadelphia.
Sheetz wants to build a location like this one outside of Philadelphia, its first major encroachment in Wawa-land. (Photo via Via Tsuji / Creative Commons / Flickr)
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Sheetz Plans to Open Across the Street from a Wawa
If you wanted, for some ungodly reason, to grab a sandwich and a cup of coffee at Sheetz today, you’d need to make the trek all the way out to Morgantown. That’s where the Altoona-based convenience store chain has its closest location to Philadelphia. But if Sheetz has its way, the store may soon open a location in Limerick, Montgomery County. And Sheetz isn’t just encroaching on Wawa’s territory — it wants to build a Sheetz right across the street from one of those mega Wawa locations. Real estate blog Bisnow has more on this new development in the great Wawa vs. Sheetz debate.
I’ll let you decide who makes the better hoagies, which, by the way, Sheetz refers to as subs or, rather, Subz. Ugh. One thing’s for sure: Wawa is beating Sheetz in the money game. According to Forbes, Wawa had about $18.8 billion in annual revenue for FY24. Sheetz? A paltry $14 billion.
Philly Band Cancels Kennedy Center Gig
You may have heard that the country has a new president and that he’s been making a few changes here and there. OK, he’s completely flipped the country upside down and is causing all sorts of chaos and confusion with his orders and decisions. One such decision was to perform a hostile takeover of the Kennedy Center. As a result, prominent members of the cultural institution have left in protest. And major artists have pulled out of playing there. Among them, Philly rockers Low Cut Connie. Apparently lead singer Adam Weiner dislikes Trump even more than he dislikes Phish.
Wait, We Have a State Song?
Yep. Apparently we do. But a Pennsylvania legislator who has a background in hair rock says he doesn’t like it. And so he’s written a song to replace it. Alas, it’s not hair rock.
Got the Next Scrub Daddy?
One of the Philly area’s earliest Shark Tank successes was the inventor of Scrub Daddy. He made a deal with Lori Greiner. He’s since sold more than $900 million worth of the little scrubbers. If you’ve got a brilliant idea and would like to follow in his footsteps, Shark Tank is holding open auditions here in April. Good luck!
By the Numbers
$14: Bribe a group of Philly women paid a bar in South Africa to open in the middle of the night so they could all watch the Super Bowl.
$200,000: Money a pastor is trying to raise to repair and restore the Camden home where MLK rented a room from 1948 until 1951. He plans to turn it into a museum.
63: What SEPTA is now calling its G route. And the 71 is the H. The Route 10 trolley shall now be known as the T1. Yes, I warned you about all this silly renaming last year. And as of yesterday, it’s a reality. Here’s an explainer to get you through all this.
Local Talent
If you’ve been around Philly for a long time, you probably remember Paul Green’s School of Rock, a music academy for kids who want to, well, rock. (If you haven’t seen Rock School, the documentary about that school which spawned so many rock schools and which may or may now have inspired the movie School of Rock, do yourself a favor.)
Eventually, Green ditched Philly but moved back in the late 2010s and opened The Paul Green Rock Academy, an elite version of the School of Rock. And his students now do things like act as the backing band for legendary Yes singer Jon Anderson. But they’re a versatile bunch, and this weekend, they head to PhilaMOCA with some Slayer, Metallic, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest up their sleeve.
In March, the students team up with two Philly drag queens for a tribute to the Talking Heads. Like I said, versatile.
