Sevierville Buc-ee’s is being edged out as ‘largest in the world’ – by just 293 square feet
For one year, Sevierville has been home to the largest convenience store and gas station in the world with Buc-ee’s just off Interstate 40 at Exit 407. But that all changes this June.
The Sevierville Buc-ee’s, which opened June 2023, is a staggering 74,707 square feet.
Come June 10, barely 300 square feet, or about the size of a typical one-car garage or a generously sized primary bedroom, will strip the East Tennessee location of its grand title when a bigger Buc-ee’s opens in Luling, Texas.
The Luling Buc-ee’s is 75,000 square feet, just 293 square feet more than the one in Sevierville. It replaces the current Buc-ee’s in Luling, which was the brand’s first travel center, built in 2003. The new Luling store, about two hours west of Houston, has 120 fuel pumps, at least 200 employees and, of course, thousands of the snacks, brisket, fudge and Beaver Nuggets options for which the chain is known.
The Sevierville location has 120 pumps and 22 electric vehicle charging stations. It also has a 250-foot-long car wash. It had 350 employees as of November, according to Paste BN.
And everything really is bigger in Texas! The Luling location was expected to hold the “largest in world” title for about a year, until an 80,000-square-foot Buc-ee’s opened in Ocala, Florida in 2025 But it seems that planned Buc-ee’s has been downsized.
The Ocala Buc-ee’s will be around 74,000 square feet, similar to the Sevierville size, the Buc-ee's director of real estate and Development told the Daytona Beach News-Journal in an email last week.
According to the News-Journal, the initial 80,000-square-foot figure reported was based on planning documents from 2023 and a previous press conference by Gov. Ron DeSantis and Buc-ee's CEO and founder Arch "Beaver" Aplin.
So for now, the Luling Buc-ee’s will remain the biggest in the world, and our Sevierville location will hold strong as the second largest.
Where is Buc-ee's opening other locations?
The very first Buc-ee's store opened in 1982 in Texas. A multi-state expansion plan began in 2019, with Buc-ee’s travel centers opening in Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina and Tennessee. The first locations in Mississippi and Virginia broke ground earlier this year.
Other Buc-ees's locations in the works include:
- Smiths Grove, Kentucky: 2024
- Amarillo, Texas: 2025
- Brunswick, Georgia: 2025
- Rockingham County, Virginia: 2026
- Boerne, Texas: 2026
Announcements for planned Buc-ee’s in development include:
- West Tennessee is getting its first Buc-ee’s. Little is known about the specifics of the store, but it is slated to be in Gallaway, Tennessee.
- Benton, Arkansas, will host the first Buc-ee's in the state.
- Arizona will see its first Buc-ee's in Goodyear.
- North Carolina will have its first in Mebane, North Carolina.
- A location is coming to western Ohio.
- Plans have been submitted for a location on the Treasure Coast.
- An Anderson, South Carolina, location to open in 2026 will require infrastructure improvements, according to the Greenville News.
Devarrick Turner is a trending news reporter. Email devarrick.turner@knoxnews.com. On X, formerly known as Twitter @dturner1208.
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