Buc-ee’s to build its third Kentucky location. What to know about the massive store

With two Buc-ee’s sites coming to fruition, Kentucky is about to get a third location of the world’s largest convenience store.

The third Buc-ee’s will be in Western Kentucky, as Oak Grove Mayor Theresa Jarvis announced plans on Tuesday, March 8, for the Texas-based chain to come to Christian County, WHOP and WKDZ reported.

“I don’t know if anybody has heard, but a Buc-ee’s is coming to Oak Grove,” Jarvis said during a fiscal court meeting Tuesday, WKDZ reported. “145 gas pumps and 300 employees.”

Last April, Buc-ee’s announced plans for its first Kentucky location in Richmond, just south of Lexington, the Herald-Leader reported. That location is expected to open this summer.

And in June, an application was approved to bring the super-sized travel center to Smiths Grove near Bowling Green, the Daily News reported.

Oak Grove tourism director Traci Cunningham said its location is expected to open in 2024, and it will be built along Interstate 24, WHOP reported.

So what is Buc-ee’s and why is its expansion throughout Kentucky a big deal? It’s known for its clean restrooms, kitchens with fresh, hot food, and trademark snacks, including the popular beaver nuggets — a crunchy corn nugget snack with a brown sugar caramel coating. All locations are open 24 hours a day.

They’re also quite large. The Richmond location, for instance, will be more than 53,000 square feet and will have 120 gas pumps, the Herald-Leader reported.

In 2016, Bon Appetit hailed Buc-ee’s as “the best rest stop in America,” giving credit to its brisket breakfast tacos, handmade fudge and beaver nuggets (the mascot of Buc-ee’s is a beaver).

Buc-ee’s has at least 40 locations, primarily in Texas, but also in Florida, Georgia and Alabama. The chain is in the midst of an expansion to Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina and Mississippi, according to media reports.

Oak Grove, with a population of just 7,300, is home to a harness racetrack that opened in 2019. The racetrack was the first to be built in Kentucky in nearly 25 years and had an estimated $150 million price tag, the Herald-Leader reported.

This story was originally published March 8, 2022 at 3:14 PM with the headline "Buc-ee’s to build its third Kentucky location. What to know about the massive store."