Buc-ee superfans were heartbroken after the legendary chain’s original store was destroyed in a devastating Monday fire.
Around 10.30 a.m., emergency services from numerous agencies rushed to the blaze at the business in Luling, Texas, and cordoned off the area while fire crews fought to put it out.
The Luling Fire Department uploaded photos online showing massive plumes of smoke, which contrasted with the chain’s cheery, smiling beaver emblem.
The Caldwell County Office of Emergency Management later said that the fire had been doused and that clean-up efforts were beginning, but encouraged the public to avoid the area if possible.
No other information on the cause of the fire has been revealed. The original Buc-ee’s building, which opened more than two decades ago in 2003, was replaced by a brand new center across the street on June 10.
At 75,000-square-foot with 120 gas pumps, the new Buc-ees is the largest convenience store in the world. Over 200 people will be employed there, providing “thousands of snack, meal and drink options for travelers on the go,” the company told USA Today.
The American chain of enormous gas station and general stores has become known for roadside snacks – featuring BBQ brisket sandwiches and its signature Beaver Nuggets – as well as the “world’s cleanest bathrooms” and the “friendliest” beaver mascot. Over the years it has attracted a cult following across the states.
“The new Buc-ee’s Luling will be the largest Buc-ee’s location in the country, bringing the largest Buc-ee’s back where the legend began,” the company said in a press release last month, prior to the fire.
The previous record-holding Buc-ee’s in Sevierville, Tennessee, which also has 120 pumps, 22 electric vehicle charging stations, and a 250-foot-long car wash within its 74,707 square foot location.
A new location is scheduled to break ground along Interstate 75 near Ocala, Florida, next year.
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