It’ll be fun, they said.
Buc-ee’s opened their first Arizona location in Goodyear a couple of weeks ago. For those unfamiliar, Goodyear is a suburb of Phoenix located a little West of the city.
I’ve got a new (to me) truck and I hadn’t taken it on a road trip, so I thought “What the hell” and decided to drive up and see what it was all about. One hundred twenty-four miles. Three vehicular accidents on I-10 headed North. Road construction. The trip up took over two hours, so I arrived at right at noon, Saturday.
The owner’s of Buc-ee’s have learned how to print money. Buc-ee’s is not a gas station. While there may be 120 pumps, there’s not even a sign showing the prices at the pump. It’s not a convenience mart, even though they sell all the stuff a convenience mart sells.
Buc-ee’s is a goddamned amusement park without rides.
The line to get into the PARKING LOT was 20 cars deep. There are more parking spots than at a shopping mall. And they were ALL FULL. People were parking along nearby streets. I managed to find a spot. I went in.
It was a zoo:
You can’t see it, but the line for checkout goes from the registers all the way back to the center of the store.
My senses were overloaded. Too peoply. I had to flee. A two-hour drive and I didn’t even buy any beaver nuggets. I didn’t want to stand in line for an hour. But hey, if you’re looking for a new career, Buc-ee’s is paying well!
I think they’ve already paid off what it cost to build the thing.
We’re in Wickenburg, about 30 minutes from Goodyear. We were thinking about going down to see what all the fuss was about. Damsel (the wife) went into a Buc-ees when we were in Georgia last summer and reported that the din was like your video. I guess we’ll hold off from going to the new store for a few months. Thanks for the post, Kevin.
My first words stepping into the KY Buc-ees was “This place is a madhouse!”
I’ve only stopped there twice on the trip to Liberty Con. Last time was not too bad, early afternoon on a Monday, and no line to get the Brisket Burrito.
Basically I’m only stopping if it’s close to lunch time and if the congestion is not too bad as I get to it when I happen to be driving by. Not making a special trip
The larger Buc-ees usually have a check-out counter at the end of the store, as well as the main entrance. Possibly at both ends, though I’ve only ever gone in the front and the one at the end to the left of the front.
Weekends are probably not the best time to visit if you don’t want to be overwhelmed.
Snort… I’ve been to one, and that was enough. Yes, the restrooms are sparkling, but the lines for everything aren’t worth the time lost on the road, IMHO.
We recently got a Buck-ees. Tried it briefly way too soon after it opened, and again a few months later. It is a couple of chunks of Gander Mountain, some Cracker Barrel lobby, and a huge convenience store with surprisingly good food. The lines were long but speedy. Way too loud and peoply for me.
Stopped at the Buc-ee’s in Florence, SC on my way back from Florida Thanksgiving weekend 2024. Absolutely nuts. Traffic so bad we had to get on I-95 south for one exit to turn around and go north.
Buc-ee’s is not a gas station, nor a truck stop, nor a convenience store, nor a souvenir shop, nor a retail outlet. It’s some combination of all of the above.
Buc-ee’s is an experience in and of itself.
But I hear you; it is VERY easy to become overwhelmed in a Buc-ee’s. There’s really no “dead” hours, even given they’re open 24/7; the KY one still does brisk business at 2AM. Any daylight hours, it’s a mad-house.
If you do ever visit again, try the candied pecans. Or the BBQ pork sandwich.
Wow. I was literally in the same place three days later after visiting my brother near Tucson. He recommended I check it out on the way to our next stop. I texted him “Holy sh*t this place is a zoo.” and “We hated every second of it.”
Never again.
The thing with Bucees and with places like Costco or Bj’s is that they are so far beyond EU comprehension in that they just can not conceive of that much stuff being availa\ble to the general public. Sort of like the markets in Russia back in the day, the elites had anything and everything available to them but the everyday stores had empty shelves.
The pure volume of stuff we have available of a regular basis just doesn’t compute for them.