Cult US road trip chain opening in 6 new states as part of huge expansion
Ella Scott
Featured Image Credit: Brandon Bell/Getty Images
A cult road trip chain has outlined ambitious expansion plans, aiming to open in six more states in the coming months.
It appears that 2026 really is the year that US chains assert their fast-food dominance, with Jersey Mike’s Subs and Chili’s announcing plans for a British takeover, among others, such as Chuck E. Cheese and Raising Cane’s.
One brand choosing to focus its attention a little closer to home is Buc-ee’s, a one-time Texas gas station, committed to providing customers with cheap fuel, maintaining award-winning clean bathrooms, and preparing fresh, yummy produce for travellers.
Head into your local road trip stop to pick up Beaver Nuggets, freshly made potato chips, breakfast sandwiches, slices of peach cobbler, and sweet cinnamon rolls.
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Other items available to fuel your car rides include burritos, eyebrow-raising jars of pickled quail eggs, kolaches, prickly pear jam, and breakfast biscuits.
The tourist favourite plans to continue its American dominance by increasing the number of states in which the beloved travel centre operates by almost half.
By the end of 2026, residents in Goodyear, Arizona, and Benton, Arkansas, will be able to head into a Buc-ee’s store without having to traverse the country.
Fox 10 Phoenix reported that the former will begin trading on 22 June and will span 74,000 square feet.
Meanwhile, the Arkansas branch is slated for a summer launch. KATV reported that it will be a similar size.
"We're happy to announce that it looks to be early to mid-August that the grand opening will take place," Chairman of the City of Benton Advertising and Promotion Commission Bill Eldridge told KATV.
The two openings follow in the footsteps of Buc-ee’s in Huber Heights, Ohio, which welcomed customers through its doors for the first time earlier this year.
In 2027, the 1982-founded company will add locations in Oak Creak, Wisconsin, Kansas City, Kansas, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and Ruston, Louisiana to its tally, as per Fox.
And in 2028, Mebane, North Carolina, residents will finally get a slice of Southern road trip culture.
Plans are allegedly in place to open further locations in Monroe County, Georgia, St. Lucie and Tallahassee, Florida, Gallaway, Tennessee and Fayette County, Arkansas, Fox said.
It’s rumoured Oak Grove, Kentucky and West Memphis will receive Buc-ee’s, too, amid the major US expansion push.
A site in San Marcos, Texas, is reportedly due to open soon. However, no date has been announced.
Texas is already home to almost 40 Buc-ee’s locations, with the store in Luling being the largest convenience store in the world at 75,593 square feet, Fox reported.
It also houses the ‘world’s longest car wash’, which clocks in at 255 feet of conveyor.
Reaction to Buc-ee’s becoming more accessible to US residents has been mixed, with one social media user writing: “Buc-ees is overplaying it's hand. It's gone from that place you visit in Texas, to that place you visit in the South, to soon, that annoying huge gas station.”
A second joked: “Future archeologists will marvel in wonder at these temples to the Cult of the Beaver.”
Someone else who recently visited the Ohio store said: “I live in Dayton and we just got the first in Ohio. Took Mom yesterday for BBQ and fudge. Lots of fun merchandise and nothing feels overpriced!”
“I heard @NickJFreitas refer to @bucees as ‘the Texas Embassy’. If there’s a more apt description for it, I don’t know what it could possibly be,” commented another fan.