Ohio has quickly become one of Buc-ee’s most interesting Midwest markets.
Buc-ee’s official location list now shows Ohio’s first store in Huber Heights, at 8000 State Route 235. The 74,000-square-foot travel center opened April 6, 2026 near Dayton, and it put Ohio on the chain’s expanding Midwest road-trip map in dramatic fashion. The opening drew customers who lined up at midnight, with founder Arch “Beaver” Aplin III, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, and First Lady Fran DeWine all on hand for the ribbon-cutting. Huber Heights Mayor Jeff Gore later confirmed the store recorded over $1 million in opening-day sales — the biggest opening in Buc-ee’s history. Hotels from Huber Heights to Miller Lane sold out completely over opening weekend.
The Huber Heights location is a classic Buc-ee’s move.
It sits near I-70, one of the most important east-west interstates in the country, and not far from I-75. That allows the store to pull from Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis-bound traffic, local commuters, and long-distance travelers crossing the state. The store features 120 fuel pumps, 700 parking spaces, and 200 full-time jobs.
Getting there was not easy. Buc-ee’s broke ground on August 8, 2024, but construction was paused in November 2024 by a lawsuit between Huber Heights and Clark County over water and sewage service rights. After the lawsuit was dismissed on December 9, 2024, construction restarted and the store opened on schedule about 16 months later.
The store gives Ohio drivers the full Buc-ee’s experience: barbecue, Beaver Nuggets, jerky, fudge, clean bathrooms, snacks, drinks, fuel, and a massive store that feels more like a roadside attraction than a convenience stop.
But Ohio is not stopping with one.
A second Buc-ee’s is moving forward in Mansfield. The project has cleared a series of approvals throughout the spring — initial council approval in March, annexation in May, planning commission conditional use permit in late May, and the final development agreement approved unanimously by Mansfield City Council on June 2, 2026. The proposed location will sit on 37.5 acres near the State Route 39 and I-71 interchange, putting it along one of Ohio’s most important north-south travel corridors. It will also be Northeast Ohio’s first Buc-ee’s.
That is a big strategic difference from Huber Heights.
Huber Heights serves the I-70 corridor. Mansfield will serve I-71, which connects Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. That gives Buc-ee’s access to a completely different stream of Ohio traffic.
The Mansfield project is planned as a 74,000-square-foot travel center with 120 fueling positions, 71 restrooms, $50 million in capital investment, and 175 to 225 full-time jobs at a starting wage of $18 per hour. The project will also require three new roundabouts and a new public street, with Buc-ee’s paying for an estimated $15 million in water, wastewater, and traffic infrastructure through a New Community Authority economic development tool. Buc-ee’s Project Coordinator Angela Janik told Mansfield City Council the company is targeting Q2 2028 — April through June of that year — for a ribbon-cutting.
For context on the scale of what is coming, Janik also told the council that the average Buc-ee’s store serves 100,000 customers per week and sells 18 million gallons of fuel per year.
Founder Arch “Beaver” Aplin himself has explained why the underdeveloped I-71/Ohio 39 interchange appealed to the company. “I actually love places where there’s not a lot of development. It kind of lets us be a beacon on the highway, if you will,” Aplin said.
For Ohio, the current count is one Buc-ee’s open.
The future plan is one more — and the approvals are done.
That means Ohio is on track to become a two-location state in 2028, with one Buc-ee’s serving east-west drivers and another serving north-south traffic.
For a chain that chooses highway corridors carefully, Ohio looks like a natural fit.
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