LAKE JACKSON, Texas, Aug. 25 (Our Texas Times) — Buc-ee’s is signaling that state and local leadership will play a larger role in where the Texas-based travel-center chain builds new locations, while continuing an expansion that could bring stores to several more states by the end of 2027.
Arch “Beaver” Aplin III, Buc-ee’s co-founder, president and CEO, said Aug. 17 at the grand opening of the company’s Benton, Arkansas, location that Buc-ee’s is looking for “conservative, business-friendly” states with strong workforces.
The comments suggest a preference in the company’s site-selection strategy, not a formal announcement that Buc-ee’s will stop building in states led by Democrats. Aplin said the company was still growing and building in “a lot of places,” but that local support mattered.
“I’m starting to realize life’s too short to try to build in places that people don’t appreciate what you’re bringing versus a place like this, where people do appreciate what you’re building,” Aplin said in a video shared by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
What Buc-ee’s is looking for
Aplin connected the company’s preferred business environment to leadership at the state and local levels.
“That leadership, that concept, that idea of conservative, business-friendly, family-oriented concept works so much better if it trickles down from the very leadership,” he said.
His remarks point to several factors that can affect large retail and travel-center projects: government support, workforce availability and the response of local communities. The comments did not identify specific states or projects that Buc-ee’s had rejected because of political leadership.
Buc-ee’s operates large travel centers that combine fuel stations, food service, retail and other customer amenities. Such projects can affect workers, customers, nearby businesses and local governments, but the available information does not include estimates of the company’s expected investment, job creation, tax revenue or sales from the expansion plans.
Where the company is expanding
Buc-ee’s said through its location information that it had 58 locations at the time of the Benton opening. Thirty-seven were in Texas, according to the company’s website.
The Benton store was identified as the company’s 58th location. The company also lists projects in Louisiana, Kansas, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky and South Carolina, with opening schedules ranging from 2027 to 2031 and beyond.
The first locations in Louisiana, Kansas and Wisconsin are expected by the end of 2027, according to the company’s expansion listings. Planned openings are not completed transactions: schedules can change, and the available information does not establish that construction has begun at every listed site.
The company has also expanded beyond its longtime Texas base. Its recent growth has included locations in Arkansas, Colorado, Ohio and Arizona, as well as Virginia, according to the company’s reported opening history and location information.
What the shift could mean for Texas
Texas remains the center of Buc-ee’s network, with most of its locations in the state. A strategy that favors conservative, business-friendly communities could reinforce the company’s presence in Texas and in other states where local officials actively support large commercial developments.
For communities seeking a Buc-ee’s, the CEO’s comments make political and local-government support part of the public discussion around competing for a location. For workers and customers, new stores could mean additional jobs and travel options, although Buc-ee’s has not provided a total employment or financial forecast for the announced projects.
Buc-ee’s is privately held, so it does not have publicly traded stock or the regular earnings reports required of a public company. No company financial filing or audited estimate tied to this expansion was identified in the available records.
Sanders, who shared the video of Aplin’s remarks, endorsed the message in a public statement: “The founder of Buc-ee’s Beaver Aplin put it best: ‘Life’s too short to try to build in places that people don’t appreciate what you’re bringing.’”
Aplin’s statement therefore provides a political and business signal about future site selection. It does not, by itself, amount to a companywide ban on projects in Democratic-led states or establish that any announced location has been canceled.
