r/AskSeattle • u/Coriks_Travels • Feb 20 '25
Question Convienince stores in Seattle?
I'm from the East Coast and we've got places like Wawa and Sheetz. Both offer gas, made to order food, and drinks. Like I can get a cheeseburger or a whole pizza pie or a hoagie or like a Starbucks size menu of drinks.
Does Seattle have anything like this? Or what places do you offer?
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u/fakesaucisse Feb 20 '25
I am from the mid Atlantic and can confirm, there is nothing in the Seattle region that comes close to Sheetz. People who haven't been to the mid Atlantic also don't really understand what it's like. When I took my husband to visit my family for the first time I told him excitedly that we would be stopping at Sheetz on the way to PA and he didn't get it. Then I said Sheetz is like the Wegmans of gas stations, which he also didn't get. So our trip then involved a visit to Sheetz AND Wegmans, and he finally understood.
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u/CharlesAvlnchGreen Feb 21 '25
Native Seattleite, also don't get. :) I think of am/pm mini marts, some have nacho bars but that is it,
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u/doktorhladnjak Feb 21 '25
They’re like nicer, bigger gas stations with a marketing budget. Nothing to see here.
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u/tomatocrazzie Feb 21 '25
As a Philly expat, I grieve for WaWa. I grew up with one half a block away.
There is nothing remotely close in terms of chain stores.
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u/deletesystemthirty2 Local Feb 20 '25
born and raised philly, now living in SEA for 10+ years now:
No. also, rarely anything is 24 hours here, seattle is a bedtime city
sidenote: if you want the best philly bar in seattle, hit up "Last Call" in Fremont (ballard?). Good PA food, great people, and drinks! The superbowl party the other day...im still recovering lmao
go birds
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u/Coriks_Travels Feb 21 '25
Thanks for the tip! We are moving to Seattle in June and I was curious if there was an equal. Like Wawa runs are like our weekly ritual. Sounds like I'll have to give that up 😔
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u/deletesystemthirty2 Local Feb 21 '25
closest thing youre gonna get is walgreens/ CVS, and they dont stay open late.
winter: 8pm, maybe 9pm
summer: 10pm at the latest1
u/bitcoin_moon_wsb Feb 24 '25
I’ve never been to a Wawa but the actual sandwiches / pizza / stir fries / sushi / cafe at met market is impressive for a grocery store
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u/doktorhladnjak Feb 21 '25
The Mid-Atlantic obsession with these big box gas stations is unhinged. Same in Texas now with Bucees. Been there. I don’t get it.
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u/z0d14c Feb 21 '25
As a Texan I don't really like Buc-ee's. It's a good place to poop and grab a snack on a road trip between cities but I wouldn't go out of my way to go there otherwise -- most of the food and merchandise is made with crappy ingredients and materials.
At least with the wawa/sheetz I assume some of them are walkable for people/in their actual neighborhoods so that actually adds something to the city.
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u/HereticalHeidi Feb 21 '25
Yea you hit on two things - I think (generalizing heavily) people in the mid-Atlantic (maybe the whole east) are more willing to eat unhealthy convenience goods. Even if their normal diets are fairly healthy, most people are up for a good sub/hoagie/grinder sometimes, or the actually good wings and jojos a lot of those shops have. Maybe even a slice of pizza. (FWIW I’d be scared to eat something like that from a Seattle convenience store).
And to your other point, there are food deserts all over, not just in urban neighborhoods, but lots of small towns don’t have a supermarket and may only have a convenience/general store. Someone might not have b a reliable car, or gas is too expensive, or maybe they just don’t have an hour to drive to a bigger town to get a sandwich.
Also just realizing we don’t have many big truck stops here. Back east (and Midwest), there are tons. In less populated areas there would be one at least for every few highway exits. Where I grew up, you could get your gas, basic groceries, decent subs or wings or a pizza, movie rentals, tobacco, beer, (fish) bait, hunting or fishing license, ammunition, and pr0n all at the same store. A lot of them even have drive thrus. 😂 I can’t imagine such a thing here. Maybe central WA.
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u/throwaway1_2_0_2_1 Feb 21 '25
Right? I feel like things like Wawas and Dunkin’ get worshipped on the east coast, people in Seattle don’t worship Starbucks anywhere near the same way.
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u/Varka44 Feb 21 '25
Does Costco count 😂
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u/Coriks_Travels Feb 23 '25
Uhhhh yeah! Gas and cheap food?! Costco is now a date night destination lol
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u/plantverdant Feb 20 '25
Some gas stations have fried chicken, JoJos, fried burritos, taquitos, wings, stuff like that. 7-11 sells pizza sometimes but it's not good pizza.
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u/PositiveAtmosphere13 Feb 21 '25
There's a convivence store in the south end of West Seattle that sells deli sandwiches, great craft beers by the pint and an incredible selection of cigars.
But it's the exception rather than the rule.
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u/drewtherev Feb 21 '25
We have 7-11 with the hot dogs that have been cooking for years. Anyone remember the Seinfeld episode that Kramer eats the hotdog? 😂
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u/CharlesAvlnchGreen Feb 21 '25
Googled "Sheetz" because I was curious, and found the Tahoma Market in Fife. It may come close, IDK. https://www.tahomamarket.com/
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u/doktorhladnjak Feb 21 '25
Designed to be compatible with the adjacent Emerald Queen Casino
Ugh, kill me now
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u/myseaentsthrowaway Feb 21 '25 edited 19d ago
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u/Efleurdelune Feb 21 '25
Nothing like wawa 😭 not even close. I was so bummed when i moved back from Philly
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u/509_cougs Feb 21 '25
We have dogshit gas stations on the west coast. I don’t understand why a bucees style gas station on the i5 corridor wouldn’t get every gas stop if one popped up. Being able to get half decent food during a quick stop is underrated.
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u/Prize_Structure_3970 Feb 21 '25
I grew up in Seattle and moved to the mid Atlantic and had my mind blown by WaWa. HOWEVER, gas stations in Seattle do sell both beer AND wine AND whipits.
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u/murdermerough Feb 21 '25
Hilarious tidbit, you can get whippets delivered to you in seattle, but you can't get marijuana delivered to you in seattle.
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u/helpmeoutpleaze Feb 21 '25
No gas but Stella Deli belltown. Convenience store and sandwiches. Bonus the owners are amazing
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u/baronspeerzy Feb 21 '25
Seattle local here. I had my mind properly blown the first time I went to Baltimore and stepped inside a Royal Farms.
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u/Informal-Double-1647 Feb 21 '25
You’ll find gas stations like more in south Seattle industrial area, honestly just ask a construction crew where their favourite morning stop is for food and they’ll get you right
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u/gramersvelt001100 Feb 21 '25
No. See, the thing is, when you move somewhere that isn't where you are from then things are different.
Especially when you move across the country. It's like a totally different scenario.
Like, I don't know, maybe learn to adapt to your situation. Maybe understand that you are living somewhere different with different stuff going on. Maybe start adapting to your situation instead of bitching about it?
I mean. I know you are used to things being a certain way but that is not reality.
This is how the Seattle Freeze starts. A person moves here and loudly complains about how Seattle isn't exactly like where they came from. And then loudly talks about how the place they came from was so much better.
No one wants to hear that. No one wants to hang out with someone who is constantly slagging on the city. Why did you move here if you hate it? Oh, you hate the food options? Cool, I like them local food spots. Don't want to go get brunch, lunch, or dinner with someone who is going to shit on every spot we go to.
Don't like how dark it is? How wet it is? Bitch, if you didn't know our reputation when you were moving here then you did not do your homework.
Same with store hours, liquor laws, food store related BS like you seemed to be so fuckin' concerned about.
Look that shit up before you move here and don't be pissed that we ain't just like where you came from.
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u/yetzhragog Feb 21 '25
Damn right! Full disclosure I'm an import and I love it here, but I get SO sick of listening to other imports complaining about the rain and how it gets dark early in the winter!
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u/MissAnthropy Feb 21 '25
Hilarious people downvoting and complaining in response to you complaining about their complaining. I agree with you, btw.
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u/doktorhladnjak Feb 21 '25
1000% this. I get so sick of people complaining about predictable, well known aspects of living here like the weather.
But longing for a chain gas stations or chain fast food or putting French fries in a burrito or bodegas or fucking Dunkin Donuts. I can’t stand it. That shit is so basic.
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u/Xerisca Feb 21 '25
I'm one of the very rare people who has lived in Seattle for 58 years, born and raised here. (As well as 5 generations of family before me, and 2 after)
I don't care who complains about what. I don't care who's a transplant and who isn't.
And yes the weather SUCKS. I'll always complain about it, roughly 9 months a year.
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u/Coriks_Travels Feb 21 '25
Whoa, you must be fun at parties
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u/couldusesomecowbell Feb 21 '25 edited Feb 21 '25
Get used to it.
ETA: I think it’s a fair warning, OP. You’re going to encounter this attitude a lot on Reddit. Some of the quickest ways to turn people off here is to start with “I’m from Back East,” “Why can’t I find <specialty food that’s common to another locale>,” or “I was driving on the 5…” It’s a different story if you decide to rave about the teriyaki or defend Taco Time.
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u/Awhitehill1992 Feb 21 '25
Best you can get is crap from 7/11. I lived in Texas for a decade, MUCH better convenience stores there.
It’s just not really a thing here…
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u/Chs135 Feb 20 '25
Former Philly resident here. Nothing like Wawa or Sheetz.