Whether it’s the amazing quality food, the squeaky-clean bathrooms, gas pumps for blocks, or all the merch…there’s something for everyone at Buc-ee’s!
But far too many people go without because, sadly – 41 states still don’t have a single Buc-ee’s. (Here are the nine that do.)
That’s about to change for Virginia, which is getting…not one, not two, but THREE new Buc-ee’s in the near future!
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If you look at Buc-ee’s current national footprint, only two states have more than three as of today.
That’s Texas, where Buc-ee’s was founded. (And where over half of all Buc-ee’s locations reside.) And Alabama with four.
Every other state that has a Buc-ee’s has just one or two. (Although Florida is poised to pick up two more as well.)
So why is Virginia rocketing to the front of the pack?
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To understand why Virginia is getting three (!) Buc-ee’s all at once, you need to understand Buc-ee’s locational strategy.
It goes a little something like this:
– Pick a spot along an interstate between two big cities
– Look for a place where lots of people are already stopping (i.e. it’s a natural stopping point)
– Buy up 23-25 acres of cheap land (ideally in an exurb, not in an expensive suburb)
…and then build.
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I call Buc-ee’s’ approach the “destination along the way” strategy.
Think about it this way:
Everyone needs to stop somewhere.
Make sure Buc-ee’s is at a natural place for people to stop.
And then deliver an experience so awesome that everyone just switches to Buc-ee’s from whatever other gas stations are in the area.
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Buc-ee’s delivers on the “awesome experience” pillar of that strategy by, very simply, being bigger and better than everyone around.
The average Buc-ee’s is over 50,000 square feet (and the new ones are mostly 74,000 square foot floor plans).
By contrast, your typical convenience store? 2-4,000 square feet.
Your average grocery store? Just 38,000 square feet!
That’s a whole lot of space for a whole lot of stuff.
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Hot food, coffee bar, a huge homemade sweets section, barbecue…
Merch, plushies, shirts, mugs…
Pretty much you name it, Buc-ee’s has got it.
And now it’s coming to three locations in Virginia. Here’s where:
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If you’ve never heard of Rockingham County, I’m not at all shocked.
It’s country. It’s small.
But it has two unique benefits that make it the perfect location for a Buc-ee’s:
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#1: It’s right off I-81, a huge trucker highway along the western spine of Virginia. (That same highway connects to the Shenandoah National Forest, too.)
#2: Rockingham County’s county seat is the city of Harrisonburg, where James Madison University and its 20,000+ students (plus all their parents, plus all the alumni) love to congregate.
And what better destination along the way than a Buc-ee’s just next door? Buc-ee’s is planning to wrap up construction in time for a grand opening on June 30th, 2025!
That’s this month!
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Richmond natives like myself know New Kent as a sleepy bedroom community east of Richmond that barely qualifies as a suburb. Along with Goochland on the far west side, it’s where you can still buy a couple acres without shelling out a fortune.
It’s also right along I-64 and makes for an ideal stopping point between Richmond and Hampton Roads, home to Virginia Beach, Newport News, Portsmouth, and Norfolk.
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Think about it this way:
Nearly 2 million Virginians live in Hampton Roads, and countless more commute there for jobs tied to shipbuilding and the military.
And if you’re going to Virginia Beach for a weekend in the sun, I-64 is the natural way to do it.
Virginia Beach gets an estimated 14.1 million annual visitors.
So with all of that in mind…
Is it any wonder there’s a planned Buc-ee’s in New Kent? (Buc-ee’s has bought the land right off Exit 211.)
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To understand why New Kent is such a slam dunk for Buc-ee’s, let’s head all the way over to Kansas for a moment.
Buc-ee’s is in the process of building its first location in the state, near the Kansas Speedway in Kansas City.
According to publicly-available documents, they’re an estimated 4 million annual visitors to that Buc-ee’s.
If 4 million annual visitors makes a new location pencil out…you can see how not that many people of the 14.1 million tourists who visit Virginia Beach each year (or the commuters, or the residents in Hampton Roads) have to go to Buc-ee’s to make it an extremely attractive location.
With that in mind, on to our third Virginia location:
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Stafford County is a Northern Virginia exurb, where people from Loudon, Prince William, and Fairfax counties all fled for cheaper land.
It’s gotten expensive quick, and it’s right along the critical I-95 corridor that runs North/South from DC to Richmond.
And while that would be a good enough reason to build any gas station, I think Buc-ee’s has its eye on a bigger prize…
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You see, I-95 also runs all the way down to South Florida…and all the way north to Maine.
An estimated 110 million Americans travel or commute via I-95 – and while not all of them will pass through Virginia…pretty much any who do will end up going past Stafford.
And its brand-new Buc-ee’s, which is currently going through the permitting process.
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A press release from S.L. Nusbaum Realty indicates that Buc-ee’s is planning a fourth location in Virginia, but no clues yet where.
With Buc-ee’s covering the three major Virginia highways (I-95, I-64, and I-81), I think it’s anyone’s guess where they’ll build next.
But I do have a few theories…
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My guess is that Buc-ee’s will build in one of three places:
– On I-85 between Petersburg, Virginia, and Durham, North Carolina
– On I-95 near Emporia along Richmond’s southern border
– On I-66 near Warrenton
Here’s why:
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All three of those locations are along major arteries between two cities along vectors that aren’t super well-covered by the three planned builds.
I-85 currently doesn’t have any Buc-ee’s coverage at all, and I-95 near Emporia is a good 70+ miles away from the nearest Buc-ee’s in New Kent, and on a different highway too.
(Of course, I-95 in Stafford County is getting a Buc-ee’s – but that’s over 130 miles due north. You’re missing a lot of commuters along the way.)
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I-66 would be interesting because it’s an opportunity to capture all of the traffic flowing into DC from points west.
There are plenty of commuters coming in for hybrid options once or twice a week from Winchester, Front Royal, and out into West Virginia’s panhandle – and many of them are going to be traveling via I-66.
And on the flip side – tons of DC-area residents travel west over the weekend to visit farms, pumpkin patches, wineries, hiking trails, etc.
A Buc-ee’s near Warrenton would have the opportunity to vacuum up all of that traffic in both directions. (Plus it could capture tourists driving to DC from as far west as Cincinnati.)
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One reader suggested Wytheville, which is in southwestern Virginia near the Tennessee border.
(See, I read the comments. Keep posting them!)
Wytheville is an interesting idea because it would primarily play off cross-border traffic from I-77 (which goes north to several ski resorts) and I-81 as it heads south to Knoxville.
I don’t think it’s quite as likely as some of the others, but it’s intriguing for sure.
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So anyway, those are my guesses. What are yours?
Where should Buc-ee’s build next?
Let me know in the comments!
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