What do Kent State commuters, Kent Roosevelt High School students and residents living near Fairchild Ave. all have in common? They all have a new, one-stop shop to visit in the midst of the Fairchild Bridge construction project.

Kent’s second Sheetz store, located at the corner of Fairchild Ave. and State Route 43, officially opened its doors for business at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday with cheerful greeters and free doughnuts.

“It’s been a slow start,” says store manager Marie Cetor. “But as soon as we said we were open we were open we had our first customers come in.”

Cetor says the store had over 100 customers in the first few hours, most of which were construction workers from across the street.

While the store is smaller than the location on State Route 59, it offers most of the same goods and services as Kent’s first Sheetz store. For many, including sophomore business management major Bailey Wiland, the convenience of the location is what sets it apart.

“I think the students are really excited to have another one so close to campus,” Willand says. “I think it’s a good thing for the city.”

No real advertising has been done for the opening of the new store, and Cetor says that for now they are relying on “word of mouth” and the fact that Kent residents are already familiar with Sheetz stores in order to draw a crowd.

“A lot of people already knew when we were getting started since we were at the other Kent store doing training,” she says. “In about a month or so, depending on how business is going, we’ll run the radio spots.”

Though there may be some competition from the other Sheetz location, Cetor says she isn’t too worried about it interfering with her store’s profits.

“We’re expecting a different demographic,” she says. “We’re going to get a lot of the high school kids who get out for lunch and a lot of the commuters…Plus being so close to the bars we should have a pretty good night rush.”

As for the doughnuts, Cetor says they’re free “until we run out.”