Ask a Texan where to stop on a long drive and there’s a good chance you’ll hear one word: Buc-ee’s. The beaver on the sign has become as much a part of a Texas road trip as a full tank and a cooler in the back seat.
But before the giant travel centers, the brisket counters and the wall of jerky, Buc-ee’s was a single convenience store on the Gulf Coast. Here’s how a gas station in Lake Jackson grew into a Texas institution.
It started on Oyster Creek Drive
Buc-ee’s dates its beginning to 1982, when Arch “Beaver” Aplin III and Don Wasek opened the first store in Lake Jackson, a Brazoria County town about an hour south of Houston. Aplin was still in his early twenties. The store was about 3,000 square feet, which was big for a convenience store back then, and it sold the basics: gas, cold drinks, snacks, beer and cheap bags of ice. Even then, people noticed how clean the bathrooms were.
That original address, 899 Oyster Creek Drive, is still listed as Store No. 1 on the company’s locations page, and Lake Jackson remains the company’s home base.
Where the beaver came from
The name is a little family history rolled together. Aplin’s childhood nickname was Beaver, he had a Labrador retriever named Buck, and he was fond of Bucky the beaver, an old toothpaste mascot. Put those together and you get Buc-ee’s, plus a cartoon beaver that now grins down from billboards across the South.
For years, those billboards have been part of the fun. They pop up along the highway miles ahead of the next store, with jokes that keep you counting down the exits.
From corner store to travel center
For about two decades Buc-ee’s grew as a chain of regular-sized stores around the Brazosport area and Southeast Texas. The big change came in 2003, when the company opened its first large travel center in Luling, on I-10 between San Antonio and Houston. That store set the pattern: dozens of fuel pumps, an enormous store full of food and Texas-themed gifts, and restrooms built to impress.
The stores kept getting bigger. New Braunfels opened in 2012 at about 68,000 square feet, and that same year its restrooms won a national “Best Restroom in America” contest run by Cintas, which the company still mentions on its About page. In 2024 a new Luling travel center opened at about 75,000 square feet, the largest Buc-ee’s yet. Today the company’s locations list shows 36 stores in Texas, with more in states from Alabama and Georgia to Colorado and Kentucky.
What to grab when you stop
Everybody has their own Buc-ee’s routine, but a few things show up in a lot of shopping bags:
- Beaver Nuggets: Sweet, crunchy corn puffs and the chain’s best-selling snack
- Brisket sandwiches: Made at the brisket station, a fixture of the big travel centers
- Breakfast tacos and kolaches: Easy to eat on the road
- Jerky and fudge: Both come in more flavors than you’ll have time to read
Buc-ee’s doesn’t run an official online store, so the only reliable way to stock up is to stop in person. Some locations also carry ethanol-free fuel and diesel exhaust fluid, and the locations page lists which ones.
A few things to know
Buc-ee’s has never allowed 18-wheelers at its stores, saying its lots and driveways weren’t built for them, so truckers will need to look elsewhere. The newer travel centers are huge, and on a holiday weekend the parking lot can feel like a stadium. If you’re traveling with a crowd, pick a meeting spot inside, because it’s easy to lose each other in the aisles.
A Buc-ee’s stop also pairs nicely with other Texas road-trip traditions. If you like a kolache break, our guides to the Czech Stop in West and Hruska’s in Ellinger cover two more favorites.
Good to Know
- Original store: Store No. 1, 899 Oyster Creek Drive, Lake Jackson, TX
- Founded: 1982, by Arch “Beaver” Aplin III and Don Wasek
- First travel center: Luling, 2003
- Largest store: The Luling travel center, opened in 2024 at about 75,000 square feet
- Texas stores: 36 listed on the company’s locations page
- Hours: Vary by location; check the store page before a late-night stop
- No trucks: 18-wheelers are not allowed at Buc-ee’s locations
Hours, dates and prices can change. Check the Buc-ee’s locations page before you head out.
It’s funny to think a road-trip legend started as a clean, friendly little store with cheap ice in Lake Jackson. More than 40 years later, that’s still the recipe, just on a much bigger scale. Next time y’all see the beaver on a billboard, you’ll know where he came from.
Featured photo: Larry D. Moore via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
