A-List Bathrooms, Red-State Only?

Buc-ee’s founder Arch Aplin just told the country exactly which states get his company’s giant fuel pumps and clean bathrooms next, and blue states aren’t on the list.

Quick Take

Buc-ee’s CEO Arch Aplin said the chain now favors “conservative, business-friendly” states with strong workforces.
Aplin made the comment at the August 17 grand opening of Buc-ee’s first Arkansas store, alongside Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Senator Tom Cotton.
The company already has stores or announced plans in more than 20 states, including new entries into Ohio, Wisconsin, and Kansas.
Site-selection experts say workforce, land, and permitting speed usually drive these decisions as much as politics.

Aplin Draws A Clear Line On Where Buc-ee’s Wants To Grow

Arch Aplin III, the co-founder, president, and chief executive officer of Buc-ee’s, stood next to Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Senator Tom Cotton on August 17. He was there to open the chain’s first Arkansas location. During the ceremony, Aplin said something that quickly spread beyond Arkansas: Buc-ee’s plans to keep building in states that share its values.

“When you find a conservative, business-friendly state with a phenomenal workforce, it makes a difference,” Aplin said. He didn’t stop there. “Life’s too short to try to build in places that people don’t appreciate what you’re bringing versus a place like this, where people do appreciate what you’re building”. That’s not a coded message. That’s a company founder telling blue-state officials, in plain English, where they rank on his priority list.

Aplin’s comments weren’t a one-time slip in front of a friendly crowd. Other accounts of the same speech quote him describing his company’s growth as intentional and ongoing, framed around states that welcome business rather than fight it every step of the way. For a company that started as a single Texas gas pump, that kind of confidence says a lot about how far Buc-ee’s has come and how little patience it now has for red tape.

The Map Tells The Same Story As The Speech

Buc-ee’s has already opened stores in more than a dozen states, and the expansion list reads like a tour of Republican-led statehouses. Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin are all getting new locations, with more states like Nebraska, Indiana, and Utah also on the roadmap. Florida alone is set to add four new Buc-ee’s locations as the company keeps chasing interstate traffic and open land.

Every one of those states, notably, is currently led by a Republican governor or has a legislature that leans conservative. That’s not a coincidence Buc-ee’s is hiding. It’s the exact pattern Aplin described out loud in Arkansas. The company isn’t quietly picking friendly territory. It’s saying so, on stage, with elected officials standing next to him.

Why Business Experts Say This Fits A Bigger Pattern

Corporate site-selection consultants have long pointed to a consistent list of priorities for companies choosing where to build: skilled labor, available land, responsive local government, and fast permitting. Nearly all of those consultants rate government responsiveness and permitting speed as “very important” factors, right alongside workforce quality. In other words, when a governor’s office picks up the phone quickly and a permit doesn’t sit on a desk for a year, companies notice.

That reality doesn’t cancel out what Aplin said. It actually backs it up. Conservative-led states often campaign hard on lighter regulation and faster approvals, which lines up neatly with what site-selection research already shows matters most to expanding retailers. Buc-ee’s general counsel has said the company looks for jurisdictions “friendly to business” and locations with a strong available workforce, echoing the same priorities Aplin laid out in Arkansas.

None of this means blue states are permanently locked out. Buc-ee’s already operates in states with mixed political leadership, and traffic patterns along major interstates still drive plenty of decisions. But Aplin’s Arkansas remarks put a spotlight on something conservative business owners have said for years quietly: government attitude toward business shows up in where investment actually lands. Buc-ee’s just said it louder than most.