Customer Detains Robbery Suspect

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Luzerne County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

WILKES-BARRE, PA – A customer stopped a masked man from leaving a convenient store after a robbery at Quick Food Mart on North Main Street on Sunday, according to charges filed.

Christopher Thomas, 25, of West Maple Street, Wilkes-Barre, was arraigned Monday by District Judge Joseph Halesey in Hanover Township on two counts of robbery, and one count each of tampering with evidence, theft and criminal mischief.  He was jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $25,000 bail.

According to the criminal complaint:

Ghanshyam Majmundar called police just after 11 a.m. saying a robbery suspect is being detained by a customer inside the food mart.

Read more:  
http://www.timesleader.com/news/local-news/509989/Customer-detains-robbery-suspect

Route 422 East Reopens After Bomb Scare At Wawa Amity (video)

Westbound U.S. Route 422 (Benjamin Franklin Highway) approaching the intersection with Pennsylvania Route 662 in Douglassville, Pennsylvania. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

DOUGLASSVILLE, PA - The Wawa on Benjamin Franklin Highway was closed for over an hour on Friday night while police investigated a possible bomb threat.

It turns out, the threat was a false alarm because the bomb was actually an electrical conduit covered in PVC pipe from an old lamp in the back parking lot.

Police responded to the Wawa around 5:30 p.m. and when they arrived, the connivence store had already been cleared of customers and the employees were sitting on the far edge of the grass lawn near the westbound highway traffic.

The continuos rush hour westbound traffic was a strange juxtaposition to empty eastbound lanes of the highway.

Read more:  
http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130511/NEWS01/130519886/route-422-east-reopens-after-bomb-scare-at-wawa-amity-(video)#full_story

Corbett Proposes Overhaul To State Liquor Control System

English: Interior of a Super Sheetz in Altoona, PA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The private businesses that would get the chance to sell beer, wine and liquor under Gov. Tom Corbett‘s proposed overhaul of the state liquor control system had mixed reactions to the proposal.

Eric White, spokesman for the Berks-based Redner’s Warehouse Markets, which also runs the Redner’s Quick Shoppes convenience stores, said the chain almost certainly would have to get into the beer business just to stay competitive with its rivals.

Lou Sheetz, executive vice president of the family-owned Sheetz chain based in Altoona, said the company loves the idea, is excited about it and believes consumers will be, too.

“We have been proponents of adult beverage sales reform in this state for a long time,” he said.

Read more:  
http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=447580

Sheetz Health Facility Opens

Sheetz located in Frostburg, Maryland (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  I think this is pretty amazing that a convenience store chain would build a wellness center for their employees.

CLAYSBURG – Sheetz employees now have a greater opportunity to improve their health with Wednesday’s opening of the $4 million Sheetz Center for Shwellness beside the Sheetz Distribution Center in the Walter Business Park near here.

“This is a state-of-the-art health and wellness center.  This creates an environment for our employees to be actively involved and more responsible for their health and wellness,” said Bill Young, director of compensation, benefits and risk.

Sheetz, along with its partner Marathon Health, will use medical staff to provide individual health and wellness coaching to employees and their eligible dependents.  The Shwellness Center is intended to help Sheetz employees improve their overall health by creating awareness of their own health conditions, while allowing them to better manage their medical care costs.  All services are offered to eligible employees and dependents free of charge.

Read more:  
http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/566450/Sheetz-health-facility-opens.html?nav=725

Developers Of Planned Lower Macungie Shopping Center ‘Trying To Bridge Financial Gap’

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lehigh County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Developers of a proposed shopping center that would bring a Costco Warehouse and Target to Lower Macungie Township pitched their project to the East Penn School Board Monday night in anticipation of a future request for Tax Increment Financing.

Staten Island developer Timothy Harrison presented his vision for Hamilton Crossings – a $120 million, 580,000 square-foot shopping center proposed on 62 acres on both sides of Krocks Road between the Route 222 Bypass and Hamilton Boulevard. He told the school board he would be returning to ask the district to participate on a TIF committee.

Harrison and his partner Jeremy Fogel, executive director of The Goldenberg Group in Blue Bell, discussed financial hurdles involved with the site that are caused by geotechnical issues resulting from more than 70 years of use as an iron-ore mine. They told directors that much of the site consists of mine wash, a pancake batter-like substance that has to be removed and mixed with concrete or rock before it is returned to the ground. Harrison said the ground could not support buildings or a parking lot without remediation.

Read more: 
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/eastpenn/mc-east-penn-lower-mac-tif-20120814,0,2514578.story

7-Eleven Stores Pass 40,000 Locations – More Stores Than McDonald’s!

7-Eleven grows at the rate of a new store opening every three and a half hours.  Really…is that even necessary?  According to 7-Eleven brass, they will add another 2,000 to 2,500 more stores worldwide in 2011.  Five hundred of those will be in the U.S. and Canada.

7-Eleven said they have significant room to grow.  Amazingly, 7-Eleven only operates in 30 U.S. states.  7-Eleven is a subsidiary of Seven-Eleven Japan.  Yes, you read that correctly.  The chain started in Dallas, Texas in 1927.  7-Eleven is now looking to buy existing convenience stores and convert them to 7-Eleven’s.  They are the Borg of the convenience store world.  Resistance is futile.

Another head-scratching factoid is that with a gazillion stores, 7-Eleven stores make up only 5% of the total number of convenience stores in our great nation.  Again, you read that correctly.  Cigarettes are 7-Eleven’s biggest selling item; however, customers can expect to see more hot food and bakery items down the road. 

The chain also has a large private-label program thereby allowing them, sometimes, to only sell the 7-Eleven brand of a particular product.  Less than half of 7-Eleven’s stores sell gasoline, which helps the company open stores faster and in smaller spaces.  On the other hand, 80% of U.S. convenience stores sell fuel.

Oh thank heaven for 7-Eleven…evidently.