Tennessee is turning into one of Buc-ee’s most important expansion states.
Buc-ee’s official location list currently shows two Tennessee stores: Crossville and Sevierville/Kodak. That already gives Tennessee a strong presence in the chain’s Southeast road-trip network.
The Crossville store at 2045 Genesis Road opened June 27, 2022 as Tennessee’s first Buc-ee’s. It sits along I-40, making it a natural stop between Nashville and Knoxville. It catches road-trippers, commuters, vacation traffic, and drivers crossing the state.
The Sevierville-area store, listed in Kodak at 170 Buc-ee’s Boulevard near Exit 407 off I-40, opened exactly one year and one day later — June 26, 2023 — and made a much bigger statement. At 74,707 square feet with 120 fueling positions, it was the world’s largest Buc-ee’s at the time. It is even more tourism-focused, serving drivers heading toward the Smoky Mountains, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, Dollywood, Knoxville, and East Tennessee vacation destinations.
Together, those two stores already give Buc-ee’s a powerful Tennessee base.
But the state’s future map is even bigger.
Buc-ee’s broke ground on its third Tennessee store in Murfreesboro on October 14, 2025, with Gov. Bill Lee attending. The 74,000-square-foot, 120-pump location at I-24 and Joe B. Jackson Parkway is targeting a December 2026 opening, per CEO Arch “Beaver” Aplin III. A fourth store in Gallaway is now targeting mid-2027 after multiple delays — the original target was summer 2026, then May 2027.
Murfreesboro is the one Middle Tennessee fans are watching.
That location will bring Buc-ee’s much closer to the Nashville metro area, one of the fastest-growing regions in the country — just 34 miles from downtown Nashville, compared with the current 77-mile drive to Smiths Grove, Kentucky. It will also serve I-24 traffic, commuters, road-trippers, college families, and drivers moving between Nashville and Chattanooga. Stan Beard, Buc-ee’s Director of Real Estate and Development, called it “a welcome pitstop for folks traveling to and from Nashville and Atlanta and the Gulf Coast.”
Gallaway will push the chain into West Tennessee.
That is important because Tennessee is long, and East Tennessee Buc-ee’s locations do not do much for drivers near Memphis. The Gallaway location, off I-40 at Tennessee 196 (Exit 28), sits about 35 to 40 minutes from downtown Memphis. The 74,000-square-foot store will offer 120 fueling positions, 71 restrooms, and more than 200 full-time jobs when it opens.
That would make the Tennessee layout much more balanced: East Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, and West Tennessee all getting coverage.
The current count: two Buc-ee’s are open.
The future plan: two more are under construction, with Murfreesboro targeting late 2026 and Gallaway targeting mid-2027.
If both open on schedule, Tennessee would have four Buc-ee’s and become one of the chain’s biggest states outside Texas and Alabama.
For drivers, that means more places to stop for brisket, Beaver Nuggets, fudge, jerky, clean bathrooms, and merch.
For Buc-ee’s, it means Tennessee is not just a one-off success. It is becoming a statewide strategy.
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