Barbecue & Beaver nuggets. What Buc-ee’s fans will wait for with NC store delayed
North Carolina’s first Buc-ee’s travel center in Mebane has been pushed back from its planned May opening to the end of 2027. When the 74,000-square-foot mega gas station does open, fans can expect barbecue, beaver-themed merch and what the chain calls the cleanest bathrooms in America.
FULL STORY: Buc-ee’s delays opening of 1st NC travel center. More stores are planned.
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Here are key takeaways:
• The Mebane Buc-ee's, off Interstates 40/85 in Alamance County, is now expected to open at the end of 2027. Land grading started in November on the 32-acre site, and Buc-ee's real estate director Stan Beard estimated it could draw 5 million to 6 million visitors a year.
• The store will have 120 gas pumps and over 200 full-time employees. N.C. Department of Transportation crews are already building a new bridge segment over I-40/85 and expanding the road to handle traffic.
• The centerpiece is barbecue. The chopped brisket sandwich is the top seller, mixed with fat and lean and doused in a sweet, tangy sauce. Sliced brisket, smoked turkey and pulled pork round out the menu.
• Buc-ee's signature snack, Beaver Nuggets — caramel-coated corn puffs — has a cult following. The stores also stock a fudge counter with about two dozen house-made options, a 15-foot-wide jerky bar and warm candied pecans spun in machines that fill the air with toasted sugar.
• The bathrooms are a draw of their own, with floor-to-ceiling tiles, walls between every urinal and rooms instead of stalls. A dedicated team of employees keeps them clean. The hallways double as art galleries, with painted scenes of horses, cows and buffalo.
• Beaver-themed merchandise fills roughly half the store: matching family T-shirts for every holiday, pajama pants, stuffed animals, neck pillows and novelty items like crazy straws shaped like beaver mouths. Fire pits, smokers, fishing gear and jewelry are also for sale.
• “The Disney World of convenience stores,” Donald Bradshaw, the Florence, South Carolina, store general manager, told us last year. On a Good Friday visit, cars backed up on the off-ramp, all 700 parking spots were full, and the bathroom line stretched past the cash registers.
The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The full story in the link at top was reported, written and edited entirely by journalists.
This story was originally published March 23, 2026 at 3:32 PM.
