Virginia’s Buc-ee’s era has officially started, but the next phase is moving at very different speeds.
Buc-ee’s official location list currently shows one Virginia store: Mount Crawford, in Rockingham County, at 6500 Buc-ee’s Boulevard. The 74,000-square-foot store opened June 30, 2025, with Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin attending the ribbon-cutting. It gave Virginia its first Buc-ee’s and made the state part of the chain’s growing East Coast expansion push.
The Mount Crawford location sits off I-81 at Exit 240 near Harrisonburg, making it a natural stop for Shenandoah Valley travelers, college families, tourists, and long-distance drivers moving through western Virginia. The store features 120 fueling positions and brought 200+ jobs to the area at starting wages of $18 to $24 per hour.
It also brought the full Buc-ee’s experience to the state: barbecue, Beaver Nuggets, jerky, fudge, clean bathrooms, snacks, drinks, fuel, and a store large enough to turn a highway stop into an event.
Now the next of two more Virginia locations to watch is Stafford County — and getting it approved was a fight.
After more than two years of fierce debate, the Stafford County Board of Supervisors voted 5-2 to approve the project just before 1 a.m. on May 20, 2026, after a meeting that began at 5 p.m. the previous evening and stretched nearly eight hours. The approval came despite county planning staff recommending denial, 86 VDOT comments on the traffic plan, and vocal opposition from nearby Embrey Mill and Austin Ridge neighborhoods. More than 40 speakers addressed the Planning Commission earlier in March, including, at the final hearing, a man dressed as the Buc-ee’s beaver mascot who ate one of the chain’s signature treats before the board.
The approved project will sit near Exit 140 on I-95, at Courthouse Road and Austin Ridge Drive. It will be a 74,000-square-foot store with 120 fuel pumps, more than 700 parking spaces, and 36 acres of land. Officials project the development will generate $1.9 million in annual tax revenue and roughly 200 jobs — along with more than 20,000 vehicle trips per day, the traffic projection that drove much of the opposition.
The Baltimore Banner reported that the Stafford site sits about 75 miles closer to Baltimore than the Mount Crawford store, making it a more convenient stop for Maryland drivers heading south. It will also be the closest Buc-ee’s to Maryland, about 52 miles from Bethesda.
That is a huge difference.
A Buc-ee’s near Stafford would not just serve Virginia residents. It could draw traffic from Northern Virginia, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Fredericksburg, Richmond-bound drivers, and vacationers moving toward the Carolinas and Florida.
But Stafford is not opening anytime soon.
Because the site sits so close to I-95, the project still needs an extensive state and federal transportation review before construction can begin. Officials have said the federal traffic study alone could take 18 to 24 months. Board of Supervisors Chairman Deuntay Diggs said the store may be three to four years away from opening.
Then there is New Kent County.
That project, planned along I-64 east of Richmond at Exit 211, has been repeatedly delayed. Sources have variously cited 2027, 2029, and as late as 2031 as possible opening dates, making it a long-term project rather than a near-term opening.
The current Virginia count: one Buc-ee’s is open.
The future map: Stafford is the most active project, though still three to four years from opening, while New Kent appears to be much farther out.
If both eventually open, Virginia could have Buc-ee’s coverage on I-81, I-95, and I-64. That would make the state a major East Coast Buc-ee’s hub.
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