Texas becomes home to the world’s largest convenience store

A new Buc-ee’s travel center opening in Texas is set to become the largest convenience store in the world.

The 75,000 square foot gas station in Luling, Texas, will surpass the previous record holder – another Buc-ee’s location in Sevierville, Tennessee – by just barely 300 square feet when it opens on Monday June 10.

"The new Buc-ee’s Luling will be the largest Buc-ee’s location in the country, bringing the largest Buc-ee’s back where the legend began," the company said in a press release. The Texas store – opening two hours west of Houston – will replace the current Buc-ee’s in Luling, which was built as the brand’s first travel center in 2003.

The American chain of enormous gas stations and general stores has become known for roadside snacks – featuring BBQ brisket sandwiches and its signature Beaver Nuggets – as well as the “world’s cleanest bathrooms” and the “friendliest” beaver mascot.

The record-breaking gas station will consist of 120 fuel pumps, at least 200 employees, and “thousands of snack, meal and drink options for travelers on the go,” the company told USA Today.

That’s compared to the previous record-holding Buc-ee’s in Sevierville, which also has 120 pumps, 22 electric vehicle charging stations, and a 250-foot-long car wash within its 74,707 square foot location.

This isn’t the only Buc-ee’s drawing in thousands of visitors across the country; a new location will break ground along Interstate 75 near Ocala, Florida, next year. While it was initially reported that the Florida chain was set to break Luling’s record at a staggering 80,000 square feet, the company maintained that the largest convenience store will remain in its home state of Texas.

"Buc-ee’s is currently in the design and permitting phase for a 74,000 square foot-store in Ocala, FL, which is our largest store model outside the state of Texas,” Stan Beard, Buc-ee’s director of real estate and development, told the Daytona Beach News-Journal on June 7. "Regarding square footage, the largest store outside of Texas will not exceed 74,000 square feet.”

Buc-ee’s travel center was founded in 1982 in Texas, and began its expansion across the US in 2018 with the opening of a location in Alabama. The company has since opened 14 other locations in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri, and Colorado. Earlier this year, Buc-ee’s announced the opening of its first location in North Carolina.