Buc-ee’s Ltd. is set to open a new travel center in Amarillo, Texas, on Dec. 16. At the same time, it is going after two alleged copycat retailers to protect its brand.
Located at 9900 East Interstate 40, the new Buc-ee’s Amarillo will occupy 74,000 square feet and offer 108 fueling positions and 24 EV charging stations. It will offer Buc-ee’s staples including Texas-style barbeque, fudge, kolaches, Beaver Nuggets, jerky and fresh pastries.
The new store will bring at least 200 jobs to the area, with starting pay beginning above minimum wage, full benefits, a 6% matching 401k and three weeks of paid vacation.
“The Amarillo store opening represents a big chapter for the story of Buc-ee’s in Texas. We are excited to reach a new region of customers and glad to make the Panhandle our new home,” said Stan Beard, director of real estate and development for Lake Jackson, Texas-based Buc-ee’s.
Buc-ee’s is No. 116 on CSP’s 2024 Top 202 ranking of U.S. convenience-store chains by store count.
Founded in 1982, Buc-ee’s is known for its large number of fueling positions, clean bathrooms, food, snacks, apparel and a wide range of other merchandise.
After the opening of Buc-ee’s Amarillo, the chain will operate 51 stores, 34 in Texas and 14 scattered mainly throughout the South. Since beginning its multi-state expansion in 2019, Buc-ee’s has opened travel centers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri and Colorado.
The company broke ground on the first Virginia, Mississippi and Ohio locations earlier this year and the third location in Tennessee. Kansas and Arkansas locations are also in the works.
Buc-ee’s will break ground on a $94.8 million location in Kansas City, Kansas, in May 2025, with a projected opening date of May 2027. The new location will feature 120 fueling stations and 12 electric-vehicle (EV) charging stations.
If It Walks Like a ... Beaver
As it moves toward opening in Kansas City after receiving the final approval of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County, Buc-ee’s also is pro-actively clearing the way by attempting to eliminate any confusion over its brand and logo. It has filed suit against Kansas City, Missouri-based 2 Wiseman Enterprises LLC, dba Duckees Drive Thru, a liquor store in Kimberling City, Missouri, for trademark infringement and dilution, according to court documents.
It asserts that the store’s logo—a duck—too closely resembles Buc-ee’s beaver, and its merchandise and packaging too closely resemble that of Buc-ee’s.
Buc-ee’s trademark categories include paper goods; housewares; clothing; toys; sporting goods; meats and processed foods; staple foods and agricultural products; and business services, among others.
In the court filing, Buc-ee’s listed examples including “drinking glasses, drinking mugs, insulated mugs and portable beverage coolers; clothing such as shirts and hats; and foods such as nut-based snack foods, trail mixes, nuts, snack food dips, food package combinations consisting primarily of meat or cheese, candy, candy with nuts, salsa, trail mixes comprised primarily of crackers, pretzels and popcorn.”
“These trademarks have become famous in the United States and have acquired valuable goodwill and substantial secondary meaning in the marketplace, as consumers have come to uniquely associate Buc-ee’s trademarks as source identifiers of Buc-ee’s,” the court documents said.
Buc-ee’s claims that “Duckees has purposefully advertised, marketed, promoted, offered for sale, sold, distributed, manufactured and/or imported and continues to advertise, market, promote, offer for sale, sell, distribute, manufacture and/or import products and services in a manner that violates Buc-ee’s rights protected by Buc-ee’s trademarks. Duckees’ actions have all been without the authorization of Buc-ee’s. Duckees uses the mark ‘Duckees’ with at least clothing, hats, koozies and retail store services featuring convenience-store items.”
It added, “Duckees has intentionally packaged and promoted clothing, koozies, food products and other products in a manner that results in confusion to consumers.”
The lawsuit also points out that “Duckees uses a logo of an anthropomorphic and cartoon representation of a smiling animal in a circle with a yellow background.” Buc-ee’s uses a logo that features Bucky, an anthropomorphic beaver, on a circular yellow background.
Although the dates of the founding of the Duckees brand and the creation of its logo are unclear, father and son duo Troy and Michael Wiseman purchased Duckees in April 2023, according to a report by MySanAntonio. Kimberling City is approximately three and a half hours or about 230 miles away from 601 Village West Parkway, where Buc-ee’s is building its new stores
Duckees did not respond immediately to a CSP request for comment.
Unlucky Knockoffs
Meanwhile, Buc-ee’s is also going after another knockoff in Mexico—a new c-store in Estacion Manuel, Tamaulipas, Mexico, called Luc-ky’s, according to a report by MySA. The store’s name includes a similarly placed hyphen as Buc-ee’s, and its logo appears to have the same font as Buc-ee’s, along with a similar animal—a raccoon—wearing a hat and bandana and looking off into the distance.
Buc-ee’s has always aggressively defended its brand. In 2023, it went after a c-store set to open in Mexico called BUK-II’S in Matamoros, Mexico. That store changed its look and mascot to avoid legal trouble. In 2018, Buc-ee’s won a legal dispute again Choke Canyon Travel Centers in Atascosa, Texas, over that c-store chain’s similar logo—an alligator—as well as its merchandise. In 2014, Buc-ee’s filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against B&B Grocery, which operated a c-store and Shell gas station in Garner, Texas, called the Frio River Grocery, that used the a beaver in its logo. In 2013, Buc-ee’s filed suit against Chicks, a new c-store in Bryan, Texas, with two chicks on its logo, and which imitated Buc-ee’s. It has since been acquired by the then-owner of the Stripes c-store chain.
“Buc-ee’s has invested heavily in innovation across the company to provide the best quality products and experience for our customers,” Jeff Nadalo general counsel for Buc-ee’s, told CSP. “Buc-ee’s will not be idle spectators while others infringe the intellectual property rights that Buc-ee’s has worked so hard to develop.”
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