Buc-ee's - Expanding Near You?

Walking into the bathroom gives you like this weird feeling of entering a Valhalla of urinals

It might be "gimmicky," but everything at Buc-ee's is legit. The food, service, cleanliness, gas prices. All of it.

Cult Following is an understatement. In one of my High School elective classes, we were gonna travel from Austin to Corpus Christi, and more people were excited that we were gonna stop at Buc-ee’s than the actual destination

I think part of what makes Buc-ee's successful is that its not just a rest stop, but an event and experience. People are excited to go in and enjoy a great overall product.

Calling Buc-ees a convenience store is like calling a battleship a boat.

He’s covered Bucee’s, he’s covered Whataburger, now he must cover HEB to complete the Texas trifecta.

I think one way Buc-ee’s could stay competitive nationwide would be to regionalize different location. For example, in Wisconsin they could rollout new products like their own version cheese curds only sold at Wisconsin locations. It’d keep the local population interested and even make it a travel destination for some people

2 Aussie friends visited me in Houston and I planned a whole afternoon of things to do. An hour in, I scrapped all that and we spent over 2 hours driving to and walking through the buc-ees. They could not get over the sheer number of gas pumps and they both bought beaver onesies for their Halloween outfits that year. It was the greatest thing to experience 😂

As a woman who likes to go on road trips, i can't begin to stress the importance of safe, clean bathrooms.

My wife is a German citizen and we stopped at a Buc'ee's on a road trip. I didn't warn her or give her any information about the place before hand just treated it like a normal gas station stop. It was funny seeing her trying to process what was going on when she walked inside. She was utterly confused trying to grapple with what she was seeing lol

Been to one once. It felt like I was in a Wal-mart but if everyone was really happy. I think I could do all my Christmas shopping at Buc-ee's. I walked around the store with a coffee in one hand and a big slushie in the other. It was fun. What's so funny is that if you described the concept of Buc-ee's as a potential business idea to someone, they would rightfully think you were crazy.

I hope we can have them in Indiana. Also, I love that they pay at least $17 per hour for lower level employees, and they actually take care of their workers.

"Everyday is a new hell" -A Buccee's employee when we asked his opinion of the rubber chicken display that children were constantly playing with

A great thing about Buc-ee's is that they tailor their stores to the location. For example stores near the gulf have fishing gear sections and some in rural areas sell deer feeders and deer corn.

Buc-cee's is a staple of my family's yearly road trip from Texas to Florida. Needless to say we're thrilled about the expansion because now we have three that we can stop at along our route instead of just one in Texas. Buc-ee's is the only gas station/travel stop that I would feel comfortable eating absolutely ANYTHING from, too, because all of their food is so fresh all the time. Additionally their BBQ smells incredible and beaver nuggets are criminally addictive.

Most companies in which the founders retain full control are usually pretty great companies for the employees and customers. When the bean counters take over, things usually go downhill pretty fast.

Several big things about Buc-ee's you didn't hit on. 1.) They make and bag their own ice on-site and is why they can sell 20lb bags for $0.99. 2.) They hold a patent for their soda fountain system and chill the incoming water very cold to reduce the amount of ice melt in the beverages. 3.) They are VERY strict on employees, and do not have places for them to sit in the back for break. You stand and eat your lunch, for example. They expect a LOT for what they pay, which is well above any other store. 4.) When they contacted ICEE to put machines in their store, ICEE was not convinced they needed more than once machine. Nobody ever needs more than one. They had to invite their ICEE representative to a store to show them the size and scale of the store to convince them. (This was told to me by a senior-level employee during a behind-the-scenes tour I was on, as I worked for vendor they used). They do have a cult following, but it was earned. The jerky wall isn't just "a lot of beef jerky", it is dozens of flavors of very high-quality beef jerky. The sheer amount of food they make on-site is staggering - fudge, nuts, cookies, BBQ, kolaches, and so much more. And all of it exceeds any sort of "gas station quality" preconception you might have. It only works because the two guys own it and refuse to lower the quality or cut costs on the good and services they provide. If they had shareholders to answer to, they would eventually cut costs and become another store with sub-par, "gas-station-quality" goods and services.

Buc-cee's isn't just a place, it's an experience

I think these places are great. The fact that the founders have complete control and not some overpaid board members is what is making this work. Imagine how much better other companies would be if they kept their companies out of the hands of outsiders. Companies like Disney come to mind.

As someone from Alabama I can tell you when I first went to one after hearing people rave about it, people LOVE this store. It felt like Black Friday chaos but somehow organized and no trampling.