This is a photo of my niece’s children Lincoln and Millie in their pajamas beside the iconic beaver statue at a Buc-ee’s in Florida while on vacation. For those of you who don’t know, Buc-ee’s is a 37-year-old convenience store chain extraordinaire in the South. Most of us think of a convenience store as the small 7-Eleven on the corner. Buc-ee’s is the exact opposite. The stores are usually located along a highway and not in a town, and they are enormous. The Buc-ee’s location in New Braunfels, Texas has 68,000 square feet of retail space in which you could fit 22 average-sized 7-Elevens. The chain is known for its extremely clean restrooms, large numbers of gas pumps and abundant selection of merchandise and food. Let’s learn more about Buc-ee’s.
According to Wikipedia, Buc-ee's is a chain of convenience stores and gas stations with locations in Texas, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. Additional locations are currently under development in Kentucky, Tennessee and South Carolina. Plans for an additional location in North Carolina were shelved in early 2021. The company is owned by Arch "Beaver" Aplin III and Don Wasek, and has its headquarters in Lake Jackson, Texas.
History
Co-founders Don Wasek and Arch "Beaver" Aplin opened their first store as partners — which is still open as of 2020 — in Lake Jackson, Texas, in 1982. Aplin formed the name Buc-ee's by combining his childhood nickname; the name of his labrador retriever, Buck; as well as the appeal of Ipana toothpaste's animated mascot, Bucky the beaver. He was born in Southeast Texas, with his father originating from — and grandparents residing in — Harrisonburg, Louisiana.
Buc-ee's expanded and opened its first travel center in Luling, Texas, in 2001. Buc-ee's are large stores with fuel pumps that range from 80 to 120 fueling positions for gas and diesel — some stores include ethanol free and diesel exhaust fluid or DEF — and a large selection of jerky, pastries, fresh sandwiches, tacos, Dippin' Dots, fudge and other items.
In 2012, Buc-ee's opened its largest travel center in New Braunfels, Texas, on Interstate 35. The New Braunfels location is the largest convenience store in the world at 68,000 square feet. The store features 120 fueling positions, 1,000 parking spots, 64 ice freezers, 83 toilets, 31 cash registers, four Icee machines and 80 fountain dispensers. It also offers tubing and water gear for enjoying the nearby Guadalupe River. The store was named the 2012 "Best Restroom in America" by Cintas.
After significant expansion in the Greater Houston area and Central Texas, the first Buc-ee's in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex opened in Terrell, Texas, on June 22, 2015. The travel center is located three miles west of Tanger Outlets on Interstate 20.
In September 2015, it was announced that at least part of Buc-ee's corporate operations would move to office space at Pearland Town Center. The "partial headquarters" would house legal and human resources departments of the company. The space was to be ready by the early part of 2016.
The second Buc-ee's in the Metroplex opened on May 23, 2016. The store is located in far northern Fort Worth, across the street from Texas Motor Speedway. The third DFW location opened in Denton, Texas, on October 29, 2018.
Buc-ee's broke ground on another North Texas location in Melissa, Texas, on February 5, 2018. The store is located off New Davis Road and U.S. Highway 75. The store opened April 29, 2019.
In June 2018, Buc-ee's approached landowners in Texarkana, Texas, with interest in acreage off Interstate 30 and State Line Ave., for a future store site. The company has the option to buy the property but has not yet exercised that option.
In late 2018, Buc-ee's announced a deal with Tooshlights to put special indicator lights in bathrooms to alert customers to which stalls are occupied or not. This is similar to the indicator lights used at some parking facilities that tell drivers which parking spaces are available and which are not. The Katy and Temple Buc-ee's stores would be the first to get the special bathroom indicator lights.
On March 8, 2016, Buc-ee's announced a possible first location outside of the state of Texas would be located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The location was expected to open in early 2017; however, on October 4, 2016, Buc-ee's announced that the plans for the Baton Rouge location had been terminated.
On April 12, 2017, Buc-ee's announced that it would open its first convenience store/gas station outside of Texas in Daytona Beach, Florida, located on the north side of LPGA Boulevard across from Tanger Outlets, just east of Interstate 95 and immediately west of Stonewood Grill & Tavern, formerly Vince Carter's. Construction began in summer 2018. However, delays in the project pushed the construction date to sometime in 2021. Since the announcement of the Daytona Beach location, Buc-ee's also announced a new location to be built near St. Augustine, Florida. The St. Augustine location opened first on February 23, 2021, and the Daytona location opened on March 22, 2021.
In January 2018, Buc-ee's broke ground on what became its first location outside of Texas, in Baldwin County, Alabama.
And in June 2019, Buc-ee's broke ground on a second Alabama location, to be located along Interstate 20 in Leeds, not far from Barber Motorsports Park.
Buc-ee's broke ground on its first store in Georgia in Warner Robins near the interchange of Interstate 75 and Russell Parkway on November 18, 2019. Buc-ee's chose Warner Robins as the location of its first Georgia store for its central location between Atlanta and Florida, fast population growth and the presence of Robins Air Force Base. The Warner Robins location opened on November 18, 2020, exactly one year to the date of groundbreaking and brought 200 jobs to the area. Buc-ee's opened a store at the World Golf Viilage in Northeast Florida in February 2021, bringing about 250 jobs to the area. Buc-ee's plans to open its second Georgia store in Calhoun at the 310 exit of Interstate 75 and SR-53 or Union Grove Road approximately halfway between Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tennessee in August 2021, expecting to fill 175 jobs.
In July 2020, Buc-ee's announced plans to build its first store in Kentucky. The store will be located in Richmond on Interstate 75, with a planned opening in mid-2021. The new store will be the farthest north for the chain to date.
With its first Kentucky store having just broken ground for construction, in April 2021 Buc-ee's purchased land off Interstate 65 in Smiths Grove, Kentucky, about 10 miles north of Bowling Green and just south of Mammoth Cave National Park.
In February 2021, Buc-ee's abandoned a planned expansion into North Carolina in Orange County. Locals in the community of Efland, where the convenience store chain planned to build, cited environmental concerns such as increased traffic congestion and potential pollution of a nearby protected watershed as their reason for opposing Buc-ee's.
In June 2021, Buc-ee's announced plans to break ground on June 15 for a new travel center located at 2045 Genesis Road off of Interstate 40 in Crossville, Tennessee. This will mark the first
Buc-ee's location in the state of Tennessee. Buc-ee’s Crossville will occupy more than 53,400 square feet and offer 120 fueling stations just outside its store with snack, meal and drink options for travelers. The new business plans to bring at least 175 new jobs to the location.
Lawsuits
In recent years, during the company's rapidly growing success, Buc-ee's has filed numerous lawsuits against other convenience store chains, most of them based in Texas, for trademark and trade dress infringement.
In 2014, Buc-ee's filed a lawsuit against Texas based convenience store chain "Frio Beaver." Frio Beaver, a company with a logo also depicting a beaver in a yellow circle with a black outline, was accused of copying the iconic Buc-ee's beaver head logo, which the company is widely known for in Texas.
In 2016, Buc-ee's sued "Choke Canyon BBQ," another Texas convenience store, for copyright infringement and trade dressing. Choke Canyon uses a logo of a grinning alligator in the middle of a yellow circle, which Buc-ee's claims is an attempt by the chain to resemble the Buc-ee's logo. Choke Canyon is also calling their new stores "Bucky's."
In 2017, Buc-ee's again filed a lawsuit for breaking an agreement, this time against a Nebraska-based convenience store chain known as "Bucky's." The two companies had agreed to remain in their respective states and expand only to states where the other did not operate.
There was also a non-logo related lawsuit filed in 2013 against "Chicks", a convenience store located in Bryan, Texas, for trade dressing by allegedly copying Buc-ee's mega convenience store designs and layout. The case was settled out of court.
Buc-ee's also lost a Texas Employee Retention Agreement case on an appeal in 2017. A year after a trial court ordered a former employee to pay Buc-ee's close to $100,000 in damages and attorney's fees for breaching a "Retention Agreement," a Texas court of appeals reversed the decision and ordered that Buc-ee's take nothing on its claims against the former employee. The court reasoned that the contract violated Texas' employment-at-will doctrine. It could only be valid if it met the requirements of an actual non-compete agreement, but as this did not meet Texas requirement for non-compete, the contract was not enforceable.
Amazing things you probably didn’t know about Buc-ee’s
According to Craig Hlavaty’s March 8, 2018 article “25 amazing things you probably didn’t know about Buc-ee’s” in the Houston Chronicle, no road trip in the state of Texas is complete without a trip to a Buc-ee's location. At least, that is the consensus of most proud Texans.
Arch “Beaver” Aplin and co-founder Don Wasek focused on having cheap ice and clean restrooms when they opened. They expanded quite a bit in 37 years.
Don’t call it a truck stop, as that is incorrect. There are no gas pumps for big rigs.
Buc-ee’s has its own branded soda fountain drinks and gets flavors of Icee drinks like Big Red and Dr Pepper that other chains would kill for.
The Buc-ee’s in Texas City has 33 urinals for the guys alone. That means that there shouldn’t be a wait to go.
Arch “Beaver” Aplin told the Houston Chronicle in early 2014 that the restrooms in his own home were just as clean as the ones in his stores. “Absolutely," he said. "I just don't have to clean them every hour though."
The first Buc-ee’s in North Texas, located in Terrell, opened up in June 2015. It was the tenth of the store’s branded “flagship” locations. That location “only” has 84 gas pumps.
Buc-ee’s has its own trademarked surfboard, named the Buc-ee Board, plus it has trademarked the name of its BBQ counter, the Texas Round Up.
The Buc-ee’s location in Baytown is so big that it even has a Baytown visitors' center inside.
The first store was opened in Lake Jackson in 1982. It was slightly smaller than the mega-stops seen around Texas these days. It’s still open.
Buc-ee’s famous Beaver Nuggets are just caramel, sugar and butter-coated corn puffs. Most people can eat a whole bag in one sitting.
Arch “Beaver” Aplin told Texas Monthly in 2013 that he looked to the work of Walmart founder Sam Walton as he developed his business plans.
Buc-ee’s general counsel Jeff Nadalo said in 2015 that each Buc-ee’s has hundreds of security cameras. The beaver is watching us, always.
Believe it or not, Buc-ee's even celebrates that most American of holidays, Black Friday. Candied jalapenos are a great stocking stuffer.
Depending upon the location, a Buc-ee’s can offer tubing gear, beach and fishing supplies. There is even a small section for hunters. YETI coolers and drinkware are usually involved.
In January 2016, Buc-ee’s brass sued their brisket supplier, Sadler’s Smokehouse, for raising the cost of its meats without telling them.
In 2013, actor Kyle MacLachlan, best known for his stint as Agent Dale Cooper in "Twin Peaks," stopped at Buc-ee’s and snapped a photo of a sticker souvenir he picked up.
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