Key Takeaways
- Buc-ee’s CEO Arch “Beaver” Aplin III says the chain favors “conservative, business-friendly” states with strong workforces and officials who appreciate its investment.
- The Texas-born chain opened its 58th location in Benton, Arkansas, as it pushes into new markets including Ohio, Arizona, Virginia, and Colorado.
- Buc-ee’s plans more stores through 2031 despite backlash over trademark lawsuits targeting smaller businesses with animal logos.
Buc-ee’s is spreading the beaver across America at a remarkable pace, but CEO Arch “Beaver” Aplin III says the company has developed some preferences about where it wants to go next.
Speaking at the August 17 grand opening of Buc-ee’s first Arkansas location in Benton, Aplin praised the state’s leadership and said the company sees advantages in expanding into places it considers “conservative, business-friendly” markets. According to USA Today, the 58th Buc-ee’s location opened with Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Sen. Tom Cotton joining Aplin for the ceremony.
“We have a lot of opportunities. We’re growing. We’re building in a lot of places, but when you find a conservative, business-friendly state with a phenomenal workforce, it makes a difference,” Aplin said. “And I’m starting to realize life’s too short to try to build in places that people don’t appreciate what you’re bringing versus a place like this, where people do appreciate what you’re building.”
Aplin also credited support from state and local officials, saying that a “business-friendly, family-oriented concept” works better when it extends from the governor’s office through other levels of government.
His comments come as Buc-ee’s is in the middle of one of its biggest expansion periods yet.
The Texas institution opened its first Ohio store in April, where the Huber Heights location reportedly cleared more than $1 million in sales on opening day. Arizona followed in June, and that debut became its own spectacle: thousands descended on Goodyear, one customer camped outside in 103-degree heat, and another traveled from Australia.
Buc-ee’s had entered Virginia in 2025 and Colorado the year before. Louisiana, Kansas and Wisconsin are among the states expected to get their first stores by the end of 2027, with additional locations already planned into the next decade.
The expansion has also made Buc-ee’s increasingly protective of the smiling beaver leading the charge. The company has filed multiple trademark lawsuits against smaller businesses, including Georgia’s Teddy’s Market and Ohio’s Mickey’s chain.
The latter fired back with perhaps the simplest legal defense imaginable: “A moose is not a beaver.”
More recently, Buc-ee’s sued Beaver’s Mini Mart, a small neighborhood store in Ohio without gas pumps. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine publicly called the lawsuit “absurd,” while John Oliver devoted part of Last Week Tonight to Buc-ee’s litigation strategy.
Oliver responded by launching “Buc-Off” merchandise featuring a squirrel parody of the Buc-ee’s logo and issuing a televised challenge: “Bring it the f*ck on.”
So far, Buc-ee’s expansion is moving considerably faster than the backlash. New stores are already scheduled for Tennessee, Louisiana, Kansas, Florida, Texas, Georgia and North Carolina, with more planned through 2031.
