Colorado already has one Buc-ee’s, but the state’s next location is suddenly much less certain — and the path there has gotten dramatic.
The chain’s first Colorado store opened in Johnstown, near Berthoud, giving the state a major stop on Buc-ee’s growing state-by-state expansion map. Buc-ee’s official location list shows the store at 5201 Nugget Road in Berthoud, a 74,000-square-foot travel center with 116 fuel pumps.
That store has already given Colorado drivers the full Buc-ee’s experience: Texas-style barbecue, Beaver Nuggets, jerky, fudge, clean bathrooms, endless snacks, branded merchandise, and enough fuel pumps to make it feel more like a roadside attraction than a gas station.
The location also made sense. Johnstown sits along I-25, north of Denver, close enough to pull in Front Range drivers while also catching long-distance traffic between Denver, Fort Collins, Wyoming, and northern Colorado.
But the bigger question now is whether Buc-ee’s will build a second Colorado store.
For more than a year, the location to watch was Palmer Lake, south of Denver, where Buc-ee’s was tied to a proposed site near I-25 and County Line Road. The site would have given the chain a major stop between Denver and Colorado Springs, but it became one of the most contentious land-use fights in recent Colorado memory.
The proposal triggered a year-and-a-half battle in the small El Paso County town of about 2,700 people. Conservationists opposed it because the land sits adjacent to Greenland Ranch — a 40,000-acre protected open space that is one of the Front Range’s largest. Critics also raised concerns about water supply and Palmer Lake’s dark sky ordinance. The fight produced four recall efforts, five resignations, a lawsuit, and a voter-initiated ballot measure in which nearly 70% of voters supported returning annexation authority to the public.
The pressure also reached the highest levels of state government. In September 2025, Gov. Jared Polis and U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper sent a joint letter to Buc-ee’s CEO Arch “Beaver” Aplin III urging the company to reconsider the location.
In February 2026, Buc-ee’s withdrew its annexation application from Palmer Lake. Stan Beard, Buc-ee’s director of real estate and development, cited “the current climate and governance challenges at the Town of Palmer Lake” and said the company was stepping back “to thoughtfully consider options under more stable and clearly defined circumstances.” A consultant for Buc-ee’s, former state lawmaker Mark Waller, said the chain was still exploring options in the region.
That does not mean a second Colorado Buc-ee’s is dead. It means the path is messier.
In April, The Colorado Sun reported that a newly formed company called Buc-ee’s EPCO LLC — formed January 15, 2026 and tied to Buc-ee’s headquarters at 327 FM 2004 in Lake Jackson, Texas — paid more than $10 million for approximately 53 acres of land. The location is the same controversial site near I-25 and County Line Road that Buc-ee’s tried to annex into Palmer Lake. The deal effectively moves the project outside Palmer Lake’s reach and into El Paso County’s land-use process. The county has confirmed Buc-ee’s has not yet submitted a development application, and Buc-ee’s declined to comment on the purchase.
Other signals suggest the project may still be moving forward. The Colorado Division of Water Resources approved two commercial well permits on the property in March 2026, and a county contractor has been dumping dirt from a road project onto the parcel for grading. A separate document tied to the property, however, prohibits use as a convenience store, gas station, or barbecue food service — leaving open questions about how Buc-ee’s would navigate that restriction.
That leaves Colorado in an unusual position.
The state has already proven it can support Buc-ee’s, but the next store is stuck somewhere between land purchases, political opposition, deed restrictions, and official silence.
The current Colorado count is simple: one Buc-ee’s is open.
The future plan is not.
For now, Johnstown remains Colorado’s only confirmed Buc-ee’s stop. But if the chain can navigate the controversy that has surrounded the I-25/County Line Road site, Colorado could still become a two-location state — just not on the timeline anyone originally expected.
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