1. July 2025
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My First Visit(s) at Buc-ee’s (Pictured Story)

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

It was a rather quiet and rather early Sunday morning on the tenth day of my Six US States and Nashville trip. Nonetheless, I ran into a traffic jam, leaving the I-75 South of Richmond in Kentucky. There was nothing close to the exit – but a massive gas station. Buc-ee’s. The third time that this trip lead me to a typical American road stop concept. I just felt to share my impressions from this experience. Most of the snaps in this Pictured Story are from my first visit of Buc-ee’s, at their outlet in Smiths Grove of the same state. Finally, all three outlets looked extremely similar. Enjoy the world of a gigantic mixture of store and fuel station.

 

Buc-ee’s – About The Franchise

Buc-ee’s was founded in 1982 in Clute, Texas, by Arch Beaver Aplin. The name Buc-ee’s thereby related to his childhood nickname with the name of his dog. The idea is to combine large gas stations (and, nowadays, electric chargers) with huge convenience / country stores. While the stores I visited felt like being very similar, there are some even larger ones in Texas. The first travel center was in Luling near Austin. After its recent upgrade, the store only has a total size of almost 7,000 square meters.

While I visited two of the chain’s outlet in Kentucky and one in Alabama, the vast majority of Buc-ee’s stores is still located in Texas. 35 of their 51 road stop are in that US state. The first two stores outside Texas, by the way, opened in 2021 in Florida. Buc-ee’s typically comes with very loyal customers. The brand also received some awards in the past. This, for example, includes the cleanliness of their restrooms (which I can confirm, especially in contrast to many other gas stations in the United States).

 

Buc-ee’s Smiths Grove (and others) – Impressions

Typically, if you don’t know the brand, the first thing that strikes you (apart from the typically uncharacteristically high traffic for a gas station…) are the fuel pumps. Buc-ee’s stores typically come with 80 to 120 pumps, which is a dimension I haven’t seen before in other places. Nonetheless, when I fueled up the car, that does not necessarily mean that I found a free spot, but had to line up.

The stores I visited were equivalent in their layout, which makes their visit very efficient. You are greeted by a Buc-ee’s statue at the entrance, which typically included items like camping chairs or even deer food.  Once in the store, you are hit by a massive merchandise section. First of all, you can buy all kinds of stuff with the beaver printed on. However, they also have other typical country lifestyle articles, like country music shirts, travel mugs (with and without logo), sunglasses and many more. One key thing which might be a key reason why US people like the concept is that prices are absolutely moderate.

And then, there is Food…

Finally, what would be a US gas station without food offerings? Of course, Buc-ee’s does this part in huge size as well. Numerous coffee machines and soft drink dispensers as well as a mixture of serviced desks and ready made food is available. Many items like the Beaver Nuggets (salty snack) are exclusively produced for the road stop or items like barbecue sauces are explicitly branded with the yellow circle logo. There is also a wide variety of chilled items. I was quite impressed that Buc-ee’s also has quite a lot of fruit and salads. The key items are their burgers and sandwiches though. I tried some of their offers and have to say that they are really tasty. Of course, there is also a supply of car maintenance items. Compared to other sections, this part of a Buc-ee’s store feels surprisingly normal and thus small. There is no restaurant or similar at a Buc-ee’s. You typically eat on a bench outside or in your car.

The popularity of the brand may lead to longer lines at the cashier. You might have to wait five to ten minutes on more busy times to check out. Therefor, if you are lucky, you might run into the mascot Buc-ee. I did like the experience with the brand, even though I have to say that this “oversized” concept feels being typically US-American. I could even hardly imagine that the concept e.g. works in Europe. One very basic, but key reason is that you need a huge area to drive a place like this. This might not work out in more densely populated parts of the world.

 

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