{"id":128065,"date":"2026-01-22T17:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T17:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/128065\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T17:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T17:47:09","slug":"sorry-florida-buc-ees-fans-st-lucie-store-wont-be-the-biggest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/128065\/","title":{"rendered":"Sorry, Florida Buc-ee’s fans. St. Lucie store won’t be the biggest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Treasure Coast fans of the popular Texas gas station and convenience store destination Buc-ee’s<\/a> may be eagerly awaiting a new location proposed for St. Lucie<\/a>, but don’t get ahead of yourselves. It won’t be the biggest one.<\/p>\n

Planning documents and site plan submissions list the proposed spot as 76,245 square feet, which would beat the record. But that’s only on paper.<\/p>\n

“We would like to address and clarify recent confusion and circulating rumors regarding claims that St. Lucie will become the largest Buc-ee’s,” the company said in a release<\/a> Tuesday, Jan. 20.<\/p>\n

“Contrary to recent reporting that the proposed project in St. Lucie, FL will be our largest store, Luling Texas is, and will remain, the largest Buc-ee’s Travel Center in our fleet!” said Stan Beard, Buc-ee’s Director of Real Estate. “Planning departments throughout the country have different parameters for reporting building sizes in official planning documents. This is an example of that confusion.<\/p>\n

“What remains consistent will always be our clean restrooms, friendly staff, and great brisket sandwiches.”<\/p>\n

The New York Post<\/a> posted a story earlier that day describing the new store as the biggest in the chain.<\/p>\n

The same site plan confusion resulted in many media outlets (including the USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida) reporting in 2024<\/a> that an upcoming location in Ocala would take the title.<\/p>\n

“Regarding square footage, the largest store outside of Texas will not exceed 74,000 square feet,” a company spokesperson said then in an email.<\/p>\n

Where is the biggest Buc-ee’s?\"In<\/p>\n

In an aerial view, the Buc-ee’s convenience store is seen on June 12, 2024, in Luling, Texas.<\/p>\n

In June 2024, the Buc-ee’s<\/a> convenience store (“home of the world’s cleanest bathrooms, freshest food and friendliest beaver,” according to a press release<\/a>) opened in Luling, Texas, to replace the chain’s first-ever travel center.<\/p>\n

The Luling store is a massive 75,000 square feet with 120 fueling stations. As son as it opened the doors it snatched the “biggest” title back from the previous Buc-ee’s record-holder in Sevierville, Tennessee<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“The new Buc-ee\u2019s Luling will be the largest Buc-ee\u2019s location in the country, bringing the largest Buc-ee\u2019s back where the legend began,” the release said.<\/p>\n

How do the Florida Buc-ee’s compare?<\/p>\n

There are currently two Buc-ee’s in Florida, one in St. Augustine and\u00a0one in Daytona Beach<\/a>. One is planned for Ocala and plans for a fourth have been submitted\u00a0for St. Lucie in St. Lucie County<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Luling, Texas:\u00a075,000 square feet, 120 fueling stations<\/p>\n

St. Augustine:\u00a052,600 square feet, 104 fueling stations<\/p>\n

Daytona Beach:\u00a053,000 square feet, 104 fueling stations<\/p>\n

Ocala (planned):\u00a074,000 square feet, 120 fueling stations<\/p>\n

St. Lucie (planned):\u00a073,000-74,000 square feet, 120 fueling stations (final footprint has not been released)<\/p>\n

Is a Buc-ee’s coming to St. Lucie?<\/p>\n

The massive gas station chain that has inspired a nearly cultlike following with endless rows of gas pumps, enormous and incredibly clean bathrooms, and food-stocked<\/a> convenience stores larger than small groceries at each location is opening three new stores<\/a> in 2026, but none of them are in the Sunshine State.<\/p>\n

However, on the company’s contact page, the list of coming-soon stores in a dropdown include one in St. Lucie, Florida in 2027 and another in Ocala in 2028.<\/p>\n

When is the St. Lucie Buc-ee’s opening?<\/p>\n

No specific date has been set. The state signed off in April, but Buc-ee’s and St. Lucie County are still working out site plans and building permits.<\/p>\n

Billboards<\/a>\u00a0popped up near the planned location in late September.<\/p>\n

Where will the St. Lucie, Florida Buc-ee’s be?<\/p>\n

The location is planned for the Indrio Road-Interstate 95 interchange<\/a>, northwest of Fort Pierce and southwest of Vero Beach, according to a site plan application submitted a year ago.<\/p>\n

It will feature 120 gas pumps, 18 EV charging stations, and 778 parking spaces, according to planning documents.<\/p>\n

What is Buc-ee’s?<\/p>\n

It’s a convenience store and a gas station and a tourist attraction<\/a>. If you’re on the road and need pretty much anything, up to and including a smoker grill, Buc-ee’s has you covered.<\/p>\n

Buc-ee’s<\/a>\u00a0began in Texas in 1982 and stayed in the Lone Star State for years, but the chain has been making inroads into the Sunshine State and elsewhere.\u00a0Locations are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and serve as one-stop shops for travelers and locals.<\/p>\n

They’re known for cheap(er) gas at each location’s insane number of gas pumps; stores bigger than some grocery stores; a wide variety of hot food, bakery items and fudge prepared on site; a wider variety of store-brand snacks, grocery staples, short sauce and jerky; and a large section of home decor, kitchen utensils, clothing, barbecue grills, Florida souvenirs, and more.<\/p>\n

C. A. Bridges is a journalist for the USA TODAY Network-Florida’s service journalism Connect team. You can get all of Florida\u2019s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gianna Montesano, Treasure Coast Newspapers, contributed to this story.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Buc-ee’s new Florida store will be big, but not like the one in Texas<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Treasure Coast fans of the popular Texas gas station and convenience store destination Buc-ee’s may be eagerly awaiting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[13151,28,63315,171,173,172,1020,14458],"class_list":{"0":"post-128065","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-convenience-store","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-luling-texas","11":"tag-port-st-lucie","12":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","13":"tag-port-st-lucie-news","14":"tag-square-feet","15":"tag-st-lucie"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}