Buc-ee’s, the mega gas station with dozens of locations throughout Texas, opened its first store in Dallas-Fort Worth Monday morning.
The 32nd Buc-ee’s opened in far north Fort Worth at 6 a.m. in the shadow of Texas Motor Speedway, on the southwest corner of Interstate 35W and Texas 114. The store features 100 gas pumps outside and 60,000 square feet inside, packed with the chain’s signature snacks and the "cleanest restrooms in America."
Richard and Linda Williams, of Azle, were the first people through the doors Monday after waking up at 2 a.m.
“I’ve never been to a Buc-ee’s before," Linda Williams said. "This is awesome.”
The gas station is the first business to open in the larger Champion’s Circle development, a nearly 300-acre site that is still under construction. The development will be home to a Tanger Outlets center, two condo complexes, a hotel and more standalone retail stores.
A traffic study posted on the developer’s website indicates that 92,000 vehicles drive past the site every day and that 1.3 million people live within a 30 minute drive.
Fort Worth city council member Richard Shingleton represents this fast-growing area of the city. And he calls Buc-ee’s a “destination gas station” that will act as the “foyer” to the entire development.
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“It’s booming, amazing, whatever you want to call it,” he said. “It’s difficult to keep your arms around the growth.”
Shingleton pointed to needed infrastructure improvements in the immediate area – streets, sewage, fire coverage, police coverage – as priorities in advance of the Christmas 2017 scheduled completion of Champion’s Circle.
Shingleton said he hears from constituents regarding concerns over the rapid growth daily.
