Two supersized Buc-ee's gas station/convenience stores are on track to open in St. Augustine and Daytona Beachsome time in the first three months of the New Year, an official for the Texas-based chain confirmed.
"St. Johns (County) first then Daytona in Q1," wrote Jeff Nadalo, chief general counsel for Buc-ee's Ltd. in a brief text message. "We don't have (exact opening) dates yet. Check back in a few weeks."
The Buc-ee's gas stations in St. Augustine and Daytona Beach will be the chain's first in Florida. Each is expected to provide a welcome boost to the local economy by creating hundreds of jobs and serving as a destination stop for motorists along Interstate 95. But they are also raising concerns by area residents over the increased traffic congestion they will likely cause.
Gas stations to be biggest in Florida
The Buc-ee's in St. Johns County is nearing completion at 200 World Commerce Parkway, next to World Golf Village on the southwest side of the Interstate 95/International Golf Parkway interchange (Exit 323). The gas station will have 104 fueling pumps, briefly making it the largest in Floridawhen it opens.
That's because the Buc-ee's under construction on the northeast side of the I-95/LPGA Boulevard interchange in Daytona Beach will be even larger: offering 120 fueling pumps.
Both Buc-ee's will include a 53,000-square-foot convenience store larger than most grocery stores.
The largest gas station in Florida currently is the 38-pump Busy Bee truck stop in Live Oak which also has a 20,000-square-foot convenience store.
The St. Augustine and Daytona Beach Buc-ee's stores will be the chain's first in Florida. Unlike the Busy Bee, Buc-ee's gas stations are not truck stops and do not allow 18-wheelers with the exception of those making deliveries to the store.
Both the St. Augustine and Daytona Beach Buc-ee'swill employ 200 workers each. Eighty percent will be full time and all will be eligible to receive benefits, said Nadalo.
New hire 'overwhelmed' by store's size
Daytona Beach resident Derrick Briggs is one of the future managers for the Daytona Beach Buc-ee's currently in training at the chain's location in Robertsdale, Alabama. The store is off of Interstate 10, 40 miles west of Pensacola.
Briggs was previously a manager at the Hyde Park Steakhouse inside the Hilton Daytona Beach Oceanfront Resort. He said he left that job to become assistant food service manager for the Daytona Beach Buc-ee's because of the opportunities for future promotionswithin the chain.
"I've been training for three months," he said, adding that the Buc-ee's in Robertsdale is currently serving as the training site for the management teams for both the Daytona Beach and St. Augustine stores. He said he was prohibited by the terms of his employment contract from disclosing when the stores will open.
"Daytona is going to explode with excitement with what we bring to town," Briggs said. "When I drove in for my first day of training, I was overwhelmed due to the fact that it was so busy and so big.
"You can get pretty much anything from sunglasses to clothing and dishes. We'll have a center area where we chop the meat (for barbecue offerings) in front of the guests. We bake the majority of our (baked goods) items and we'll offer both pre-prepared and made-to-order sandwiches as well as salads and fruit cups. The jerky counter is phenomenal. There are so many choices."
In St. Augustine, Victor J. Raymos, association executive for the St. Augustine & St. Johns County Board of Realtors, said he heard that the Buc-ee's next to World Golf Village is set to open in either January or February.
Raymos who also serves on the economic development executive committee for the St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce, said he is excited that St. Augustine will be getting the first Buc-ee's store in Florida.
"I stopped at one four to five years ago in Texas and my eyes glazed over. All my senses were overwhelmed. It was like 'whoa,'" said Raymos of the enormous size of the Buc-ee's store and the wide variety of product offerings.
An article in The New York Times last year described Buc-ee's as "a Disneyland of roadside capitalism" while the Washington Post last year published an article describing it as "a chain of massive convenience stores with the disposition of an amusem*nt park."
'Convenience store on steroids'
Jeannie Lunney is a resident at the Jimmy Buffett-themed Latitude Margaritaville 55-and-older community off of LPGA Boulevard that is just on the other side of I-95 from the future Daytona Beach Buc-ee's.
Having previously lived for more than 20 years in Texaswhere she was a high school band instructor, she said she can't wait for the mega gas station/convenience store to open.
"It's hard to explain," she said. "I call it a convenience store on steroids, but even that doesn't do it justice. You have to experience it to understand it. It's one of those places you just have to stop at. It'slike an all-in-one place in terms of the food selection and their barbecue is so good. They're well known for having the cleanest bathrooms. They're spotless. You can find all kinds of gifts, not just souvenirs. And because they have so many gas pumps, you never have to wait in line."
"Everyone in Texas probably has a Buc-ee's T-shirt. It's a Texas icon."
Soon-to-be-former Volusia County Chair Ed Kelley said he and his wife Mary Margaret visited a Buc-ee's store in Texasfor the first time a year ago.
"It was on the interstate south of Houston, heading towards Galveston," the Ormond Beach resident said. "It was phenomenal. The restrooms were like something in a casino in Las Vegas, they were so huge and clean with marble tile floors. And the store included a little grocery store, a candy shop, a bakery and deli and a gift shop that sold everything from cast-iron skillets to grills and souvenirs. It's not a gas station, it's a destination."
Bracing for more traffic
Not everyone is thrilled about Buc-ee's coming to St. Augustine and Daytona Beach.
"Traffic is getting seriously bad along LPGA and I don't think Buc-ee's is going to help," said Greg Cardino, a resident at the Lionspaw community at LPGA International just west of the I-95/LPGA interchange. "It's just going to make life even more difficult."
"My wife and I are looking forward to Buc-ee's opening just to see what the fuss is all about, but we're not looking forward to the increased traffic," said Cardino who serves as vice president of the Lionspaw Home Owners Association.
Maryam Ghyabi, an engineering and transportation consultant who leads the LPGA Coalition,offered a similar assessment.
"People are already having a difficult time (dealing with traffic) and it'snot even open yet," said Ghyabi who led the formation of the coalition to address traffic congestion along the increasingly busy LPGA Boulevard corridor. The coalition's members include the City of Daytona Beach, Volusia County, Florida Department of Transportation and the River-to-Sea Planning Organization.
"We'll see what happens (when Buic-ee's opens), but I think it's only going to add to the misery of traffic on LPGA," she said.
When plans for the Buc-ee's next to St. Augustine's World Golf Village were first announced, a petition was circulatedin 2018 that collected more than 2,000 signatures from area residents opposed to the project.
"This large gas station would bring with it major traffic problems, vagrants, unwanted noise and light pollution and in turn possibly degrade our property values," the petition stated.
Raymos said opposition quieted down after it became clear that the St. Johns County Commission was not goingto prevent Buc-ee'sfrom being built.
"Buc-ee's hasa legal right to build that station because it was approved several years ago," Raymos said. "Traffic is definitely going to be more, but they're going to widen the roads (to and from the gas station) to try to keep the traffic more controllable. It's going to be a tremendous boost to the St. Johns County community because of the jobs it's creating and I don't think it's going to impact the value of (nearby) homes very much.
"I think most St. Johns County residents, if they don't live close to it, will probably go just to see what all the fuss is about."
Creating new destination draws
Isabelle Renault, president and CEO of the St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce, said people she knows are "pretty excited about (Buc-ee's). My understanding is that it's going to open in February but we haven't heard exactly when.
"When the community heard about the number of gas pumps it would have, it seemed overwhelming for that quadrant of I-95 (at International Golf Parkway), but now that the building appears to be done, it doesn't seem as imposingas it did on paper. Buc-ee's is certainly going to be helpful to our tourism industry because we are a driving destination."
In Daytona Beach, Carl Lentz IV, managing partner of SVN Alliance Commercial Real Estate Advisors, said he believes Buc-ee's will be successful in ways that could help other area businesses including the nearby Tanger Outlets and Tomoka Town Center shopping centers.
"Increased customer traffic always helps other businesses," he said.
Briggs who lives in Daytona Beach's LPGA area, just a little bit north of the future Buc-ee's, said he looks forward to starting his new job.
"I live just seven minutes from Buc-ee's. It'll be a nice commute," he said.
