- Rural towns have shelled out millions of dollars in tax benefits and other incentives to attract Buc-ee’s gas stations in the hopes of lifting wages and the local tax base. Consumers rave about its barbecue, ample fuel pumps and EV chargers, and its award from Cintas for the cleanest restrooms in America.
Small towns across America are desperate for their own Buc-ee’s mega gas stations and some are willing to shell out millions to attract the chain and its possible economic development boost.
The Texas-based gas station has made waves on social media since it started opening locations outside the Lone Star state in 2019. Among its claims to fame are its Texas-sized footprint, which can reach up to 75,000 square feet—larger than a football field. Its cult followers also rave about its endless line of fuel pumps (usually around 100), its in-house prepared Texas brisket, and its award-winning clean bathrooms.
Yet, the company has also caught the eye of local governments for the huge lines of cars it attracts to areas off-the-beaten-path, and its eye-popping wages.
Videos abound on social media of lines clogging up entire exit ramps as the masses try to enter the mega gas station—and the crowds don’t disappear once you step inside. The Buc-ee’s location sixty miles north of Atlanta near Calhoun, Ga. Sometimes sees lines of cars that stretch a mile, according to Bloomberg. The gas station chain has also gone viral for its high wages, which can start at $18 per hour for cashiers and can range from $175,000 to $225,000 a year for a general manager.
Some rural towns in the South, where the chain has mostly focused its expansion, have offered up millions in tax benefits and other incentives to land their own Buc-ee’s.
In Harrison County, Miss.,the government put up $15 million of the $18 million needed to expand a bridge to accommodate a new Buc-ee’s, Bloomberg reported. In San Marcos, Texas, the city has promised Buc-ee’s a 50% rebate on its sales taxes over 15 years, which amounts to $3.2 million in savings, the outlet reported.
And in West Memphis, Ark., the city supplied land worth $3.5 million and pledged another $1.5 million in road and infrastructure improvements to lure the chain. West Memphis will also cut Buc-ee’s tax bill by 65% a year for seven years, saving the company about $800,000 total, Bloomberg reported.
Local governments are giving out major incentives once reserved for factories and other industrial companies to land a Buc-ee’s, with the idea that its higher wages may lift salaries in the area and the company will add to local sales and property taxes. In Calhoun, Ga., city administrator Paul Worley told Bloomberg that Buc-ee’s has increased its sales tax receipts by about 15% monthly.
Yet, giving incentives to a retail chain may not always add as much value as other options, said Greg LeRoy, the executive director of Good Jobs First, which advocates for transparency in economic development incentives to companies.
“Subsidizing retail never makes sense unless you’re bringing food retailing to a food desert,” he told Bloomberg.
