I Went To Buc-ee’s (Oh My!)

If you haven’t heard of Buc-ee’s yet, you will…

First, I have to let you know up front that Buc-ee’s is a highway travel stop, also known as a truck stop, or convenience store that is located primarily in Texas, but they also have other locations in the southern and Midwest United States. You may look at this and think, “Why does anyone care that you went to a truck stop?”

Well, because like so many other things in America, Buc-ee’s has become a roadside cultural phenomenon that has been sparking the curiosity of interstate travelers, and those who just want to see what all the hype is about. It’s become quite trendy to say you’ve been there.

Buc-ee’s has the claim of being the largest convenience store in the world. When you think of convenience stores, 7/11, Circle K, Quik Trip, WaWa’s, AM/PM, Cumberland Farms, Speedway, and places like that might come to mind. You might think of maybe a small aisle or two filled with chips, some soft drink and coffee dispensers, stale donuts, and day old fuzzy hot dogs on the roller grill with the cashier in the middle of it all.

When you walk into Buc-ee’s, the first thing you see is shopping carts and an overwhelming amount of random stuff. The store is huge. This “convenience store” is as big as a regional grocery store, if not bigger (as in 75,000 square feet). To put that in context, that’s bigger than a football field.

Visitors were happily filling their carts with the assortment of Buc-ee’s branded merchandise (which is where the cultural hype comes in) such as hats, shirts, stuffed Buc-ee mascots, keychains, and plenty of other proprietary touristy souvenirs that no one really “needs”, but seemingly has to have to proudly proclaim they’ve been there.

Like a grocery store, they had multiple lanes for checkout. If I had to guess, I would say there were probably at least 30-40 employees working throughout the store, and they were all busy because the place was packed with a non-stop flow of customers coming and going. It seemed like a pretty efficient operation. Outside, they have the world’s longest car wash and 100 gas pumps. If you’re easily impressed like I am, 100 pumps was pretty neat. And it meant no waiting, which is good because I’m very impatient.

Now that I’ve laid the premise that this place is massive, I have to provide my commentary.

I can’t think of any valid reason why there needs be a highway convenience store where you need a shopping cart to shop while traveling, but the place is definitely unique. I personally didn’t feel I needed a shopping cart full of Buc-ee’s apparel and goods, but it appeared lots of people did feel that need. While it seemed a bit excessive for me, everyone there seemed to like it, especially kids.

If you’re wondering why I wrote about something not pizza related, I can explain. I was hoping that a store of this magnitude would have pizza that I could write about for my Pizza Travels posts. Sadly, they did not have any pizza (I haven’t fired off my letter of disappointment to Buc-ee’s corporate yet, but I might still).

What they did have is a variety of fresh meats that rival any regular grocery store, a fudge counter, a tortilla factory, sweets, jerky, and the usual assortment of salty and sugary snacks and fountain drinks. I found it odd they don’t have pizza because they even have a fresh bakery in the store (the cinnamon rolls did smell really good though). They also brag about having the world’s cleanest restrooms. That’s all good, but they lost me at no pizza because I totally would have sampled some Buc-ee branded pizza.

Was the store interesting?

Yes

Would I call it a travel destination?

Not unless you feel compelled as I did to see what all the chatter is about. If you happen to be driving by one, stop in just to say you’ve been there and get your picture with Buc-ee the mascot (I chose not to), but I wouldn’t go out of the way to visit unless you have money burning a hole in your pocket that you want to spend frivolously (If you do, contact me and I can help you with that problem). BUT, I will say the gas there was substantially cheaper than anywhere around it, so I was happy about that since I needed to fill up.

Did I buy any of the trinkets?

Nope, but I did buy a bag of Buc-ee’s brand potato chips and full tank of fuel.

If anyone from Buc-ee’s corporate is reading this, take my advice and add a super Texas size pizza. That will get my attention. I’m sure others would try it too because there are people out there in the world who like pizza besides me. You can’t have a convenience store without pizza. It’s just what you do.

It was fun to say I went there, but I probably won’t go back unless there is something amazing to draw me in. A new location is supposedly being built near me in the future, but even then, chances are slim I will go there unless I need gas and happen to be driving by. While I only spent a dollar on my chips, the memories are priceless. I can now be part of the cool kids club saying I’ve been there, done that, but I didn’t get the t-shirt.

~ Marty ~

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