Buc-ee’s is the sort of craze that sparks imitation. But judging from the fates of “BUK-II’s” in Mexico and the West Texas “Sanderson Buc-ee’s” art installation that had the company sending “cleaning crews” after it, the beaver doesn’t take kindly to copycats.
Another dupe has surfaced, but this time in the Dominican Republic, and it has people on social media hoping the Texas-born convenience and gas station chain will just scroll away. A TikTok user by the name of Spike Ali posted the video on Wednesday, October 7, showing a store calling itself “Dominican Buc-ee’s Gift Shop” in the resort town of Punta Cana. Your typical beachy gift shop wares can be seen through the window — sunglasses, hats, Punta Cana-themed bags and what looks like several shelves of rum. After some digging, it seems the shop is located in the Plaza Uvero Alto, a shopping strip nearby some of the resorts.
The video picked up more than 393,000 views in just a day and racked up hundreds of comments. Some dropped their own photos of the shop when they came across it, while others posted photos with similar vibes: “Dominican Macy’s by Nicky Minaj” and quite a few variations on “Dominican Wall-mart” among them.
“Do they have pernil instead of brisket?” one commenter asked, while another inquired whether they sell the popular Caribbean dish of mashed plantains known as mofongo. But many people were not so entertained, instead fearing that the real Buc-ee’s could take legal action. “Do not let them see this,” one commenter wrote.
Buc-ee’s is known to get litigious over trademarks, a saga that has become a bit of a gag for HBO’s Last Week Tonight host John Oliver, who even created “Buc-Off” parody merch. Earlier this year, Buc-ee’s filed a lawsuit against a tiny Beaver Creek, Ohio, convenience store named Beaver’s Mini Mart, sparking intense backlash.
But it doesn’t stop there. Lawsuits have landed at the doorstep of Buky’s in Houston, Super Fuels in Dallas, Barc-ee’s in Missouri, Teddy’s in Georgia and South Carolina’s Born United. Buc-ee’s has 51 trademarks and counting, so steering clear of those are the best way to avoid the wrath of the beaver.