Buc-ee's bonanza

Given that commercial news outlets such as Houston Chronicle and GCDN (paywalled) have already covered the general story of the unprecedentedly-massive Texas City Buc-ee's opening a few days ago, I thought I'd provide you with sides of the story less reported.

And that would include an expound on the curb-your-dog signs, which are unprecedented in their own right.  Perhaps League City can take a few pointers from this photo series for their proposed dog park, assuming it moves forward into development.  

Poochy peer pressure is positively punishing in this regard.

BTW, note that long line of cars to the left.  The next thing that has to happen here is that TxDOT needs to get on the ball (the small ball) and revise the IH-45 interchange, which is now frightfully under-capacitied for serving both Buc-ees and Tanger Outlet Mall.  

Fear not in the face of fierce peer pressure - the infrastructure is in place for dealing with the demands.  

Even more different types of signs, humorous but pointed.    

Obviously they're very serious about this directive.  With 701 parking spots and in view of the fact that about half of all American households include at least one dog, can you imagine what conditions would be like if they were not serious about it?!  Do the math!!

I took pics of folks taking pics of their kids with the now-famous bronze beaver.  

As for the store itself, it's a Buc-ee's monolithic classic.  Every time I walk into one of these, I can't help but think, "How the hell did you people manage to build this thing with such a long unsupported span?!" 

The store is marvelous, thematically similar to the other mega-stores such as the one in Gonzales and the one in Waller, but this one does have "more stuff" (referencing a quote from several years ago by co-owner Beaver Aplin when Chron asked him, "What are you going to put in such a large store?!").

There is need for EVEN MORE stuff, however:  I was disappointed to find that the wall-sized collection of spices and sauces did not include any Mexican blends.  There's Texan, BBQ, and Cajun in abundance, but no Mexican (other than fajita spices which, to me, fall into the BBQ category).  Beaver please take note - we have a lot of TexMex and MexMex going on around here.  We could really use a good Mexican spices vendor, especially since The Spice Lady of Kemah decided to discontinue her artisanal efforts in order to pursue a different career focus (reportedly).  

Another mild disappointment:  I was hoping that they had produced a T-shirt to commemorate the Texas City grand opening.  Perhaps they did, but sold out.  I bought my Dad a non-commemorative T-shirt because I figure he'll wear it as a conversation piece.  My Dad lives thousands of miles away in another country, but that won't matter.  Seeing the shirt, someone will, indeed, walk up to him in the street and ask him where his favorite Buc-ee's is located.

And they'll also ask him, "What's your favorite billboard slogan?"

Screengrabbed from Wikipedia.