I see Buc’ees expanding into Nevada and Utah.
Their due diligence is insane, so many vehicles per day on that interstate, so many miles away from the competition. They have brilliantly chosen many 'gap' exits where the next stop is 17, 20, 28 miles.
IF they ever stepped out West, I could see them going into Utah under the exact right conditions. But they are dedicated to filling in the blanks in the SEC right now.
It might literally be a decade before they go any further west of New Braunfels, a neat town but which isn't even all the way to San Antonio.
I think that’s the model Shell is aiming for.
They are going to close older stations in small and medium communities and enlarge the remaining ones in the most populated areas with more services and bigger retail snack stores.
The older stations in small towns are almost all ADA non compliant and require 10’s of 1000’s of dollars in upgrades to their tiny little bathrooms. Their tanks are old, some leaking and the EPA is all over them. They are shuttering their liabilities and building new assets.
This of course will create a bathroom desert if you need to make frequent stops.
If they are smart, the beaver will stay out of California.
WORKS FOR ME