The Biggest Buc-ee’s in Texas, Ranked by Size (2026)

Quick answer: The biggest Buc-ee’s in Texas is the Luling location, among the largest travel centers in the world. This guide ranks Texas stores by size.

Let me answer the question you came for before anything else: the biggest Buc-ee’s in Texas is the Luling travel center on Interstate 10, at 75,593 square feet. And I’ll be honest: I half-expected that to change this week. The brand-new San Marcos store opened on the morning of August 12, 2026, and a lot of us who follow these openings assumed a shiny new flagship would grab the crown. It didn’t. San Marcos came up 886 square feet short. In this guide I’ll rank the largest Buc-ee’s locations in Texas by actual square footage, tell you which one is genuinely worth the detour, and share the timing tricks I use so I’m not stuck shoulder-to-shoulder with 10,000 other people. We track every Buc-ee’s opening on this site, and these numbers come straight from the company, the City of San Marcos, and the National Association of Convenience Stores.

What is the biggest Buc-ee’s in Texas right now?

Texas’s biggest Buc-ee’s is the Luling location on Interstate 10, measuring 75,593 square feet. It opened on June 10, 2024, and it’s still the largest convenience store in the world. The newer San Marcos store, at 74,707 square feet, is second in Texas, just 886 square feet behind.

Here’s the part people underestimate until they walk in: Luling isn’t just “big for a gas station.” According to both Buc-ee’s and the National Association of Convenience Stores, it’s the largest convenience store on the planet, roughly the footprint of 25 normal convenience stores stitched together. When it opened, it knocked the 74,707-square-foot Buc-ee’s in Sevierville, Tennessee down to second worldwide and dragged the record back home to Texas, which, if you know anything about Texas pride, was very much the point.

Governor Greg Abbott cut the ribbon himself and framed the store as a $40 million investment in Luling, per the official Governor’s office announcement. When a governor shows up to a gas station opening, you know it’s stopped being a gas station.

How big is the Luling Buc-ee’s, exactly?

The Luling Buc-ee’s covers about 1.7 acres of interior space, which is bigger than a football field. That number never lands until you’re inside it, so here’s what 75,593 square feet actually feels like in practice.

• 120 fuel pumps once the old store next door is cleared for more parking (it was 96 at opening). I have genuinely never had to wait for a pump here, even on a holiday weekend.
• About 200 employees, which makes it one of Luling’s biggest single employers.
• 34 women’s stalls plus 19 urinals and 17 men’s stalls, each with the little green/red availability light. Sounds excessive. Isn’t. On a Saturday you’ll be glad.
• Thousands of snack, grocery, apparel, and home-goods items, plus a barbecue counter chopping brisket in front of you all day.

The store sits at 10070 I-10, about 58 miles from San Antonio, 50 from Austin, and 141 from Houston. That highway-midpoint spot isn’t an accident, and once you notice the pattern, you’ll spot it at every giant Buc-ee’s in the state.

Did the new San Marcos Buc-ee’s become the biggest?

No, and this is the update most “biggest Buc-ee’s” lists still have wrong, because the store only opened this week. The San Marcos Buc-ee’s, which opened August 12, 2026, is the second-largest in Texas at 74,707 square feet, a mere 886 square feet behind Luling.

Don’t let “second place” fool you into skipping it, though. San Marcos actually beats Luling on a couple of things I care about as a regular: it has 128 fueling positions (more than Luling’s 120) and sits on I-35 smack between Austin and San Antonio, so it’s an easier stop on that drive. The city expects it to serve over 10,000 visitors a day, according to Community Impact’s opening-day reporting, which is also where that exact 886-square-foot gap is confirmed. Governor Abbott and founder Arch “Beaver” Aplin III chopped brisket at the ribbon-cutting, same as Luling in 2024.

My honest take: San Marcos loses the size title by a margin smaller than one restroom wing, and gains a better location and more pumps. If you’re a first-timer chasing the record, go Luling. If you drive I-35 and just want the newest, cleanest build with the shortest fuel wait, San Marcos is the smarter stop.

The biggest Buc-ee’s in Texas, ranked by square footage

Here are the largest confirmed Buc-ee’s travel centers in Texas by interior size. I want to be straight with you about one thing: Buc-ee’s doesn’t publish square footage for every store, and I’d rather give you a short honest list than pad it with guesses. So this covers the locations with verified figures.

New Braunfels deserves its own moment. When it opened in 2012 it was the largest convenience store in the world at around 68,000 square feet, per Wikipedia’s Buc-ee’s entry, and it even won a “Best Restroom in America” award. (Quick transparency note: you’ll see this store listed anywhere from 66,000 to 68,000 square feet depending on the source, which is exactly the kind of measuring inconsistency Buc-ee’s itself has flagged.) It held the world title until Sevierville, Tennessee overtook it in 2023. And if you’re a records nerd, the Katy store off I-10 owns a different one entirely: the world’s longest car wash at 255 feet, per Buc-ee’s own world-record page.

Why are the biggest Buc-ee’s always in Texas?

The biggest Buc-ee’s are in Texas because that’s where the chain was born and where it still builds its flagships. Arch “Beaver” Aplin III opened the first Buc-ee’s in 1982 near Lake Jackson, about 60 miles south of Houston, and the company is headquartered there to this day.

The jumbo era really started in 2003, when the original Luling store became the chain’s first large-format travel center. Aplin has said it just wouldn’t have felt right to build the biggest Buc-ee’s anywhere but Luling, which is why the 2024 record-setter replaced that exact store. As a fan, I love that they were sentimental enough to keep the crown in its birthplace.

There’s cold strategy underneath the sentiment, though. The largest Buc-ee’s sit off major highways, roughly halfway between big cities, to catch drivers on long hauls who need fuel, food, and a clean restroom in one shot. Luling on I-10, San Marcos and New Braunfels on I-35, Bastrop on TX-71: same formula every time. When one store can pull 10,000-plus travelers a day, going enormous pays for itself.

What it’s actually like inside the biggest Buc-ee’s

Walking into a flagship Buc-ee’s is closer to visiting a roadside attraction than filling up your tank. If your only reference is a small older location, brace yourself, because the big ones feel like a different company.

The smell hits before your eyes adjust: chopped brisket and pulled pork from the Texas Round Up barbecue station, nuts roasting and getting tossed in flavor, kolaches, and fudge made right there on the floor. Bags of Beaver Nuggets, the sweet corn-puff snack the whole chain is built around, are stacked at basically every turn, which I’m convinced is on purpose. The room is so wide that seeing from one wall to the other is a real squint.

A few things I’d tell any friend before their first visit:

• Block out an extra hour. You do not “quickly grab gas” at a 75,000-square-foot store. You’ll wander. Everyone wanders.
• Show up hungry. The BBQ bar runs from open, and the brisket sandwich plus a bag of Beaver Nuggets is, in my opinion, the correct first order.
• Dodge the crowds. Weekday mid-mornings and after about 7 p.m. are calm. The first couple of weekends after any new store opens are chaos, so if you want to actually enjoy it, wait a bit.

That “wow at the door” moment is the entire draw, and it’s genuinely why people plan whole road trips around these stops instead of the other way around.

What’s the next bigger Buc-ee’s after Luling?

For now, nothing tops Luling, and Buc-ee’s says that’s staying that way. In January 2026 the company put out a statement clarifying that despite reports about a proposed St. Lucie, Florida project, Luling is and will remain its largest travel center, per the company’s own press release. They chalked the mix-up up to different cities measuring building size in different ways, which, having chased these numbers myself, I completely believe.

The chain isn’t cooling off, though. Buc-ee’s now runs 37 stores in Texas after San Marcos and 57 across 14 states, with a Boerne, Texas location expected in 2027. Nothing announced so far is built to beat Luling’s 75,593 square feet, so I’d say the title is safe on its throne for a good while yet.

Frequently asked questions

What is the biggest Buc-ee’s in Texas?

The biggest Buc-ee’s in Texas is the Luling location on Interstate 10, at 75,593 square feet. It opened in June 2024 and is also the largest convenience store in the world.

Is the San Marcos Buc-ee’s bigger than Luling?

No. The San Marcos Buc-ee’s, which opened August 12, 2026, measures 74,707 square feet, making it 886 square feet smaller than Luling. It’s the second-biggest Buc-ee’s in Texas, though it actually has more fuel pumps.

How big is the biggest Buc-ee’s in square feet?

The Luling store is 75,593 square feet, about 1.7 acres, which is larger than a football field. It could fit roughly 25 standard convenience stores inside.

Where is the world’s largest Buc-ee’s?

The world’s largest Buc-ee’s is in Luling, Texas, at 10070 I-10. It’s recognized as the largest convenience store in the world by the National Association of Convenience Stores.

Was New Braunfels ever the biggest Buc-ee’s?

Yes. The New Braunfels Buc-ee’s on I-35 was the largest convenience store in the world when it opened in 2012 at around 68,000 square feet. It lost the title to the Sevierville, Tennessee store in 2023.

How many Buc-ee’s are in Texas?

Buc-ee’s operates 37 stores in Texas as of August 2026, including the world’s largest in Luling, plus 20 more locations across 13 other states.

Who founded Buc-ee’s?

Buc-ee’s was founded in 1982 by Arch “Beaver” Aplin III, who opened the first store near Lake Jackson, Texas. The company is still privately held and headquartered there.