American convenience store chain
Buc-ee's Holdings, Inc., commonly referred to as Buc-ee's, is an American chain of country stores, gas stations, and electric vehicle chargers created and owned by Arch "Beaver" Aplin III, headquartered in Lake Jackson, a city south of Houston. The chain was founded in 1982 in Clute next to Lake Jackson and began expansion with its first travel center in Luling south of Austin, Texas in 2003. The company began expanding outside of Texas in 2018 with the opening of a location in Baldwin County, Alabama and since opened stores in Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Colorado, and Missouri with new locations planned for North Carolina, Mississippi, Ohio, Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas, Arizona, Kansas, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma.
As of June 2024, the largest Buc-ee's is located in Luling, Texas. The chain has also become well known for the cleanliness of its bathrooms and its mascot. Buc-ee's has never permitted 18-wheelers at its locations saying that "the company’s parking lots and driveways aren't designed to accommodate truckers", a policy which has angered some truckers.
The chain is popular compared to other gas stations due to its large customer base who have been shown to be frequent customers over a long period of time. Its bathrooms have gained significant acclaim, winning the Cintas award for "Best Restroom in America" in 2012.
History.
In 1982, founder Arch "Beaver" Aplin was a partner in the opening of a store in Clute, Texas, the first to bear the name "Buc-ee's". He 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. Aplin was born in Southeast Texas. His father was born in Harrisonburg northeast of Alexandria, Louisiana and Arch's grandparents live there. Buc-ee's expanded and opened its first travel center in Luling in 2003.
In 2012, Buc-ee's opened its largest travel center in New Braunfels, Texas, on Interstate 35. The New Braunfels location was the largest convenience store in the world at , but on June 26, 2023, the Sevierville, Tennessee Buc-ee's opened becoming the world's largest convenience store at 74,707 square feet (6,940.5 m2). The Sevierville store was surpassed in size by a new store in Luling, Texas at 75,000 square feet (6967.7 m2) on June 10, 2024, replacing the original Luling travel center which was 35,000 square feet (3251.6m²). The New Braunfels had the 2012 "Best Restroom in America" named 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 three miles west of The Shops at Terrell (a former Tanger Outlets center) 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 the legal and human resources departments of the company. The space was ready by the early part of 2016. The second Buc-ee's in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the 32nd location in Texas, opened on May 23, 2016. The store is 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 established another North Texas in Melissa, Texas, on February 5, 2018. The store is located off New Davis Road and U.S. Highway 75 and it opened on April 29, 2019.
Expansion outside Texas.
On March 8, 2016, Buc-ee's announced a possible first location for a store outside of the state of Texas 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 canceled.
On April 12, 2017, Buc-ee's announced it would open its first convenience store/gas station outside of Texas in Daytona Beach, Florida. Construction began in summer 2018. However, delays in the project pushed the construction date back to 2021. Since the announcement of the Daytona Beach location, Buc-ee's also announced a new store would open in St. Augustine, Florida. The St. Augustine location opened first on February 23, 2021, and the Daytona store opened on March 22, 2021.
Locations.
As of July 2024, Buc-ee's has 50 active locations across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Colorado, and Texas. In January 2024, the company announced the opening of its first store in North Carolina.
Products and services.
Food.
All travel center locations include a bakery, brisket and fudge bar, snack aisle, soda, coffee, and an Icee station. Stores have various candy and beef jerky flavors to purchase including a beef jerky bar. Product offerings include cookies, kolaches (Czech pastries), and other pastries in the bakery, BBQ brisket sandwiches, chicken sandwiches, and breakfast tacos/bowls/burritos/sandwiches at the brisket bar along with cold-cut wraps and sandwiches. Packaged cups of fruit, vegetables, and desserts can be purchased as well. Locations also house packaged general snack foods like nuts and fudge, ice cream and Dippin' Dots, water, soda, energy drinks, and alcoholic drinks. The company has produced many of its own original snack foods including Beaver chips, potato chips made on site. The most notable snack are "Beaver Nuggets" (flavored corn puff snacks), the company's best-selling product.
Souvenirs and general merchandise.
Besides food and drinks, the company offers a variety of general and regional-based souvenirs, including apparel and artwork. The chain carries its own clothing brand, ranging from t-shirts to hats, pants, plushies, swimwear, and blankets. Stores also carry general kitchen goods: cast iron skillets, food containers, mugs, glassware, cookbooks, coolers, and thermoses among others. General travel products are sold along with phone accessories. Various locations sell hunting gear and equipment alongside outdoor products like grills and firepits.
Fuel.
All Buc-ee's travel centers include 80 to 120 gas pumps, with fuel offerings ranging from unleaded (87, 89, 91, and 93 octane most commonly) to diesel. Some stores include ethanol-free fuel and diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) as well.
Tesla Superchargers.
In November 2021, "CleanTechnica" reported that Tesla would be opening Superchargers at 26 Buc-ee's locations in 7 states. As of February 2023[ [update]], there were operational Superchargers at more than half of the planned locations including in Alabama (Leeds, and Robertsdale); Florida (St. Augustine); South Carolina (Florence); Tennessee (Crossville); and Texas (Bastrop, Baytown, Ennis, Giddings, Katy, Madisonville, Melissa, New Braunfels, and Wharton). Since then more Superchargers have been added into more locations, such as in Colorado (Berthoud); Florida (Daytona Beach); Georgia (Adalrsville and Fort Valley); Kentucky (Richmond); Tennessee (Kodak); and Texas (Denton, Fort Worth, Luling, Pearland, Royse City, Temple, Terrell, and Waller).
Car washes.
As of July 2024, Buc-ee's has car washes available at ten of their locations with seven in the state of Texas, one in Alabama, one in Tennessee, and one in Florida. The longest of these in Katy, Texas, holds the record for the longest car wash in the world at of conveyor.
Litigation.
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. The case was settled out of court in December 2014; B&amp;B Grocery Inc. agreed to stop using the "Frio Beaver" logo and mascot. 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". Choke Canyon lost the federal lawsuit in May 2018 with Choke Canyon changing their logo to a cowboy inside of an orange circle.
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. The lawsuit was thrown out. A non-logo related lawsuit was filed in 2013 against "Chicks", a convenience store 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 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 and did not meet the Texas non-compete agreement requirements, so it was not enforceable.
In 2023, crossover artwork of the Buc-ee's beaver and Hatsune Miku was trending on Twitter. An Austin, Texas-based artist claimed responsibility for creating "Bucsune Miku". In response, Buc-ee's sent the artist a cease and desist letter regarding the stickers and the use of the beaver logo. The artist announced that they would no longer furnish the stickers via their shop, nor as a gift for supporting their work via tipping.
References.
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Further reading.
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