The hype surrounding Arizona’s first Buc-ee’s doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.
In a Reddit post shared on Friday, June 26, one customer claimed they stopped by the new Goodyear location a few days after its grand opening around 4 a.m. and were met with more than an hour-long wait for one of the chain’s famous brisket sandwiches.
The shopper described the scene as “absolute pandemonium unlike anything i’ve ever seen at any establishment in the middle of the night.”
According to the post, shelves stocked with Buc-ee’s branded snacks and merchandise had already been picked over, leaving “absolutely nothing but scraps left.” They also claimed traffic was backed up for nearly a mile as drivers waited to enter the property.
“Okay first of all, i love the buc as much as the next guy, but there’s not a single thing in there worth waiting an hour for at any hour of day, especially not in the middle of the night,” the Redditor wrote. Still, they wondered whether the frenzy was simply part of opening a Buc-ee’s in a state that had never had one before.
Arizona’s first Buc-ee’s drew huge crowds
The Reddit post comes just days after Buc-ee’s opened its first-ever Arizona location on June 22—the chain’s westernmost store to date.
Thousands of fans turned out for the grand opening in Goodyear, with some camping overnight in triple-digit temperatures and one traveler reportedly flying in from Australia just to attend.
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Even co-founder and CEO Arch “Beaver” Aplin III admitted the turnout exceeded his expectations. “I knew it would be big,” Aplin said, per Arizona Family. “It even exceeded what I was expecting.” He also hitned that more Arizona locations could be on the horizon.
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs also attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony, noting, “People plan road trips around Buc-ee’s locations, and now one of those locations is here in Arizona.”
More Buc-ee’s locations are on the way
Arizona won’t be the last state celebrating a Buc-ee’s opening. The chain—which first opened in 1982 Lake Jackson, Texas—is set to open new stores later this year in San Marcos, Texas; Benton, Arkansas; and Murfreesboro, Tennessee, before expanding into additional states through 2031, including Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and more.
And if the crowds in Goodyear are any indication, those future openings may want to prepare for some very early morning visitors, too.
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