Sevierville, Tennessee, just lost its status as home of the world's largest convenience store. A larger Buc-ee's, with over 75,000 square feet of store space, 120 gas pumps, and "thousands of snack, meal and drink options," opened Monday in Luling, Texas, per a release. A few hundred square feet larger than the Sevierville Buc-ee's, which opened last June, the Luling Buc-ee's is officially recognized by the National Association of Convenience Stores as the largest convenience store in the world, almost 30 times the size of a traditional convenience store, per Axios. The new store replaces Buc-ee's first family travel center, "the giant store that made the brand famous" when it was built in Luling in 2003, per the outlet.
There were initial reports that the Luling store would hold the title only a short time before a Buc-ee's of more than 80,000 square feet opens next year near Ocala, Florida, per AL.com. But a Buc-ee's rep said Friday that "the largest store outside of Texas will not exceed 74,000 square feet," per the Independent. It makes sense Buc-ee's would want the record to go to a Texas store. The convenience store chain was founded in Chute, Texas, in 1982 and 36 of its 50 locations are found in the state. The one in Katy, Texas, boasts the world's longest car wash at 255 feet long.
"It didn't occur to me when we built the biggest store ever in Tennessee just how unhappy some of my fellow Texans would get with that so we quickly realized we had to do something to solve that," KDFW quotes Buc-ee's co-founder Beaver Alpin as saying. Buc-ee's also has locations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri, and Colorado. There are plans to open additional locations in Arizona, North Carolina, Virginia, and Mississippi. (More convenience stores stories.)
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