Buc-ee’s, the well-known Texas rest stop and convenience store chain, is opening its first location outside the Lone Star State at the Greens at Millerville, developer Windy Gladney’s 56-acre development at Millerville Road and Interstate 12 in Baton Rouge.
Buc-ee’s has signed a purchase agreement with Gladney for an undisclosed price to acquire a 15-acre parcel on the development, which might sound like a lot of land for a gas station and convenience store. But the first Louisiana Buc-ee’s location, like all Buc-ee’s outlets, will be huge—more than 60,000 square feet of retail space and more than 90 fueling positions.
Buc-ee’s, which boasts the largest convenience store in the country and also the cleanest restrooms in the world, was founded in the early 1980s in Lake Jackson, Texas, and has 32 locations in that state.
Buc-ee’s project engineer Scott Ratcliff says the company chose to open its first out-of-state store at the Greens at Millerville because of what appears to be an ideal location.
“About 95% of our sales receipts are from outside the store ZIP code, so visibility and easy on-off traffic pattern all go into the analysis of the site,” Ratcliff says. “So location and accessibility are key factors, and this really fit the bill.”
Buc-ee’s bills itself as a travel destination, not a truck stop. Only four-wheel vehicles are allowed, not 18-wheel tractor trailers, which is for the safety of the traveling public, Ratcliff says.
The local Buc-ee’s will resemble in size and scope of the company’s Baytown, Texas location, which is the nearest Buc-ee’s to Louisiana. Unlike other Buc-ee’s stores, however, which are Texas-centric in their mix of food and merchandise, Buc-ee’s first Louisiana location will feature products more appropriate to the Bayou State.
“We bring in local vendors, so we try to support the community as well as enhance the visitors’ experience,” Ratcliff says.
In addition to fuel and an array of merchandise, Buc-ee’s will sell prepared food, which is ordered in the store at digital kiosks then prepared in a full-service kitchen and picked up at a counter. The new location also will serve barbecue and a have a jerky bar, kolache bar and Dippin Dots station—all of which are Buc-ee’s standards.
Buc-ee’s hopes to break ground on the facility during the second quarter and open some time in early 2017.
The Greens at Millerville also will include a 320-unit apartment complex, a Richard’s Honda dealership and the RV Shop, among retail outlets.
—Stephanie Riegel
