To know Buc-ee’s is to love Buc-ee’s – but sadly, far too many people don’t know Buc-ee’s, because there’s none nearby!
(That’s actually about to change for one state that’s getting an unprecedented THREE Buc-ee’s shortly!)
And amazingly, Buc-ee’s is still nowhere near these five cities.
Let’s dive right in.
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Oklahoma City is just such an obvious place for Buc-ee’s to open up that I’m shocked they haven’t yet.
It lives at the intersection of two major highways.
The first is I-40 (east/west) which runs from Winston-Salem in North Carolina, through Asheville, Nashville, Memphis, Arkansas, and all the way west through Albuquerque, Flagstaff and Sedona, and into California.
Huge highway for tourist traffic.
The second is I-35, which runs from Dallas up to Wichita.
Again, obvious.
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The closest Buc-ee’s is in Denton, Texas – 171 miles away from downtown Oklahoma City.
That’s…an unreasonable drive.
Plus, let’s face it – while Buc-ee’s is of course universally beloved, it got its start in Texas, so it makes sense to expand to states that have that kinda “Texas feel.”
Oklahoma is such an obvious one.
But the state still doesn’t have a single Buc-ee’s.
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Earlier this year, Buc-ee’s confirmed that they’re looking at Oklahoma for possible locations.
Buc-ee’s has a history of building on the outskirts of big metros, so you could see a suburb or exurb of Oklahoma City or Tulsa get the nod.
Time will tell! But my fingers are crossed for Oklahomans to finally get their fix of Beaver Nuggets without an unreasonable drive.
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St. Louis isn’t on a whole lot of people’s top 10 lists, but I’ve got family in Fenton (one of the suburbs) and have visited plenty of times.
And let me tell you something – a LOT of traffic passes through the area.
You’ve got I-64 running west all the way from Virginia – passing through Lexington, Louisville, and Evansville along the way.
None of those is a “name-brand” city, right, but they’ve all got plenty of people traveling plenty of places.
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St. Louis used to be known as the gateway to the West – and with good reason.
(It’s got the gateway arch, after all.)
St. Louis is just located in an ideal, central location for people passing through.
Plus, the metropolitan area has over 2.8 million people!
That’s plenty of potential customers.
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The nearest Buc-ee’s is all the way over in Springfield, Missouri – over 200 miles away to the southwest.
And while St. Louis isn’t expecting to get a new Buc-ee’s – Kansas City, Kansas IS going to be building one, so at least Kansas City (Missouri) will have one nearby.
Sorry St. Louis, hopefully something changes soon!
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Indianapolis, home of the Indy 500 (among other things) just feels like such an obvious place for a Buc-ee’s.
It obviously lives at the intersection of major highways – I-70 which runs all the way through Ohio in the east through Terre Haute down to St. Louis, I-65 to Chicago and down to Louisville, and I-69 through Fort Wayne and up to central Michigan.
And if all that outside traffic wasn’t enough, the Indianapolis metro has over 2 million people!
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And again – Indianapolis isn’t NYC or San Francisco, where people might be snooty about stuff.
Indianapolis is as midwestern as they come.
(I should know – I used to work there.)
This is a place that loves its fried food, bbq, and chain restaurants – and let’s face it, Buc-ee’s is a clear step up on all those fronts.
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The bad news is that the nearest Buc-ee’s to Indianapolis is in Richmond, Kentucky – a 200+ mile drive away.
The good news is that a new Buc-ee’s is planned for western Ohio in the next couple of years.
That should hopefully materially reduce the commute time for people to get some really great quality beef jerky and chopped brisket sandwiches.
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This one’s just such a gimme.
Omaha is booming and has lots of easy access to lots of other cities – including Des Moines, Sioux Falls, and Lincoln – plus it connects straight over to both Cheyenne and Denver.
But right now the nearest Buc-ee’s is…in Springfield, Missouri! a 5+ hour drive away!
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This is a whole section of the country that’s just being totally ignored by Buc-ee’s.
And it’s an area that I’m convinced would absolutely LOVE Buc-ee’s – steak and barbecue are already so popular throughout Nebraska and the Plains states.
And unfortunately, to my knowledge, Buc-ee’s has no plans to build anywhere near Omaha.
(The closest Buc-ee’s in the next few years would likely be the one planned for Kansas City, Kansas – so a 2-3 hour drive away. That’s certainly better than five…)
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New Orleans felt so obvious that I double-checked to make sure there wasn’t one nearby.
There isn’t.
(At least not yet.)
But there are two Buc-ee’s planned for Louisiana – one in Lafayette and one in Ruston, so Baton Rouge and New Orleans should both have a pretty reasonable commute to a Buc-ee’s pretty soon.
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So there you have it – five cities that really should have a Buc-ee’s by now – but don’t.
Fortunately, Buc-ee’s IS planning to deliver locations to several (but not all) of them in the near future.
Which brings me to an important question…
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Where should Buc-ee’s build next?
Be sure to let us know in the comments!
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