If you’re on the East Coast and have been missing Buc-ee’s – or have never experienced one at all – then I have great news.
Because while Buc-ee’s has been on a building tear in general…
This summer, Buc-ee’s will be opening its very first location in Virginia.
More specifically, it will now be opening on June 30th – so it’s now just five months away!
Here are all the details…
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I’ve been following Buc-ee’s planned expansion to Virginia closely for some time now, for two reasons:
1) It’s my home state.
2) Virginia is about to get not one, not two, but an unprecedented THREE new Buc-ee’s.
(And in fact, there are rumors of a fourth – you can read all the details here.)
Only two other states in the country have so many Buc-ee’s right now – its home state of Texas, and Florida.
We’ll get into why Virginia is so special here in a moment, but first, let’s talk all about this new location:
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First off, location: This Buc-ee’s is being built in Rockingham County, off Exit 240 on Interstate 81.
It will be 74,000 square feet (nearly the biggest Buc-ee’s, although the world record is still held by another) and have 120 pumps plus 24 EV chargers.
Now, if you haven’t heard of Rockingham County before, I get it – it’s small and rural.
But as with seemingly every decision Buc-ee’s makes…there’s a good reason:
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I’ve observed that Buc-ee’s has a very specific strategy for choosing locations.
It goes something like this:
– Find a highway with a ton of traffic
– Find a cheap place to build along that highway (they’re buying 20+ acre parcels, so this makes sense)
– Ideally (but optionally), position the new Buc-ee’s near a big tourist draw or two.
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Rockingham County is off I-81, which is a huge route for truckers and, really, anyone traveling up and down the East Coast who isn’t using I-95.
(You’d pick I-81 over I-95 in part because the traffic is much better, in part because you can avoid some of the really major metropolitan areas like Philadelphia and DC, and in part because it’s much more accessible to western New York, middle Pennsylvania, western Virginia, Tennessee, and western North Carolina.)
So that checks the first box.
For the second box, you’re just gonna have to trust me – Rockingham is quite cheap.
But it’s right next to somewhere that’s quite a bit more expensive – a classic Buc-ee’s move:
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You may not have heard of Harrisonburg, as it’s a small independent city in Virginia.
But if you’re from Virginia, you’ve definitely heard of James Madison University (or JMU for short), which is one of the big state schools – based in Harrisonburg.
It has over 20,000 students and is a huge draw for football and other sports in the area.
And it’s surrounded by Rockingham County.
So if you’re an alum, or a parent, or a prospective student…you’ll pass right by Buc-ee’s.
And that’s not all…
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Every Virginian knows that Massanutten Mountain is one of the few places in the state where you can reliably ski during the winter.
Guess where it is?
Rockingham County.
And here’s a much bigger name I guarantee you’ve heard before:
Shenandoah National Park.
Which is right next door.
As you can see, this is pretty much an ideal location for Buc-ee’s…
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And again, I just want to highlight that this is the same playbook Buc-ee’s has used elsewhere. Just as one example:
Their planned location near Kansas City (Kansas side) is just down the street from the Kansas Speedway.
And according to their business plan, Buc-ee’s expects a whopping 4 million annual visitors at that location!
So this all makes sense.
And like I mentioned, this is just one facet of Buc-ee’s success:
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I mentioned earlier, offhand, that this new Buc-ee’s would be 74,000 square feet.
It’s just worth highlight here for a moment how big that is.
The typical gas station convenience store is 2,000-4,000 square feet.
The typical grocery store? About 38,000 square feet.
Heck, Walmart Neighborhood Markets are only about 50,000 square feet!
This new Buc-ee’s will be bigger than all of them…
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At that size, you can offer…a lot of stuff.
And Buc-ee’s has it all – chips, drinks, beer, merch, clothes, cookware, pretty much you name it.
It’s a little bit like a flea market or a swap meet that way – whenever I go, I always find something new and unexpected.
And of course – there’s the food.
(Fudge, Beaver Nuggets, kolaches, Beaver Tails, chopped brisket sandwiches…heck, just look at all the delicious options under $4.)
Buc-ee’s has worked really hard to maintain its quality, which is why expansion has been so slow over the years.
In fact…
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Buc-ee’s only expanded outside Texas for the first time in 2018.
Since then, they’ve grown to nine states by slowly and thoughtfully expanding, ensuring that the customer experience remains intact.
You can summarize that experience as something like:
– Clean bathrooms
– Great food
– Tons of selection
And it’s working remarkably well…
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Which is why management is comfortable expanding to Virginia, with Kansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana to come shortly thereafter.
Here’s the full list of states that currently have a Buc-ee’s, in alphabetical order:
– Alabama
– Colorado
– Florida
– Georgia
– Kentucky
– Missouri
– South Carolina
– Tennessee
– Texas
Now, earlier I promised we’d talk about Virginia a little more…
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Virginia has three major highways crisscrossing the state:
– I-81 (which Buc-ee’s is covering in Rockingham County, of course),
– I-95 (which runs north-south from Maine to Florida and everywhere in between), and
– I-64 (which runs east-west across the state, connecting Richmond and Hampton Roads).
Buc-ee’s has big plans for each of them.
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We’ve already talked a bunch about I-81, of course.
For I-95, Buc-ee’s is building a new store in Stafford County, just outside the most expensive DC suburbs.
And For I-64, Buc-ee’s is building in New Kent, a cheaper Richmond exurb that straddles the highway on the way to Newport News and ultimately Virginia Beach.
Virginia has a lot of people, for sure, but more importantly – it’s a crossroads for all kinds of stuff.
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If you’re not going to Myrtle Beach, the Outer Banks or Florida, and you want a “traditional” beach experience, chances are good you’re going to Virginia Beach.
And elsewhere in Virginia, there are of course a ton of Civil War battlefields and tourist attractions.
Plus all the DC commuters, Shenandoah, and just the fact that Virginia is a natural stopping place for anyone traveling north to visit family in New England.
With that in mind…the big question:
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Now that we’ve discussed all of the attributes of places Buc-ee’s has built…and where they are building…
Where should Buc-ee’s build next?
Let us know in the comments!
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