If you love Buc-ee’s and live in one of just nine states…you’re in luck!
Buc-ee’s, which was founded in Texas in 1982, still has the majority of its stores in the Lone Star State, but recently it’s made moves to rapidly expand its presence into eight other states.
With more coming – in fact, one state is poised to get a whopping THREE new Buc-ee’s shortly!
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In addition to listing out the states that Buc-ee’s has expanded to, I’ve ranked them by per capita Buc-ee’s exposure (number of Buc-ee’s stores per 10 million residents), and also shared a list of the states that don’t have Buc-ee’s…yet!
Store data is courtesy of Buc-ee’s, and population data is courtesy of the 2020 US Census.
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Maine
Vermont
New Hampshire
Connecticut
Massachusetts
Rhode Island
New York
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Pennsylvania
New Jersey
Delaware
Maryland
Virginia
Washington, DC
West Virginia
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Mississippi
Arkansas
North Carolina
Louisiana
Oklahoma
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Iowa
Indiana
Illinois
Michigan
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Ohio
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Nebraska
Kansas
North Dakota
South Dakota
New Mexico
Arizona
Utah
Montana
Idaho
Nevada
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Washington
Oregon
California
Alaska
Hawaii
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Buc-ee’s has been very deliberate about its expansion strategy, picking locations usually in the suburbs or exurbs of a big urban area, and almost always along a major highway that heads to another urban area.
Put differently – Buc-ee’s is going where the traffic is.
And this makes sense because…
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The typical Buc-ee’s is over 50,000 square feet (for comparison’s sake, the typical grocery store is about 38,000 square feet), and the newest stores are usually 70,000+ square feet.
They usually employ 150-200 people and pay a good wage (usually $18 an hour or so, starting).
They’re built for scale – so they need a lot of people to come visit!
And you’ll see that reflected in the states they’ve chosen, starting with…
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State population: 21,538,187
Number of Buc-ee’s stores: 2
Buc-ee’s stores per 10 million residents: 0.9
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State population: 6,154,913
Number of Buc-ee’s stores: 1
Buc-ee’s stores per 10 million residents: 1.6
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State population: 5,773,714
Number of Buc-ee’s stores: 1
Buc-ee’s stores per 10 million residents: 1.7
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State population: 10,711,908
Number of Buc-ee’s stores: 2
Buc-ee’s stores per 10 million residents: 1.9
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State population: 5,118,425
Number of Buc-ee’s stores: 1
Buc-ee’s stores per 10 million residents: 2.0
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State population: 6,910,840
Number of Buc-ee’s stores: 2
Buc-ee’s stores per 10 million residents: 2.9
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State population: 4,505,836
Number of Buc-ee’s stores: 2
Buc-ee’s stores per 10 million residents: 4.4
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State population: 5,024,279
Number of Buc-ee’s stores: 4
Buc-ee’s stores per 10 million residents: 8.0
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State population: 29,145,505
Number of Buc-ee’s stores: 35
Buc-ee’s stores per 10 million residents: 12.0
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It’s no surprise Texas is #1 – it’s where Buc-ee’s was founded, and it’s where the vast majority of Buc-ee’s stores can be found today.
But with Buc-ee’s rapidly expanding into new markets, I believe it’s only a matter of time before it continues its inexorable march up the East Coast and the Interior West.
Imagine a Buc-ee’s on the New Jersey turnpike!
Or even California one day!
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