EPRT - Who Wants To Be A C-Store Landlord?
2024-05-15 07:00:00 ET
Summary
- Buc-ee's, a popular convenience store in the American South, is gaining a cult following and is considered a road trip destination.
- Convenience stores are a growing trend, with increased foot traffic and a boost in sales compared to fast-food restaurants and gas stations.
- REITs that own convenience store properties, such as Realty Income, NNN REIT, Agree Realty, Essential Properties Realty Trust, and Getty Realty, offer investment opportunities in this growing sector.
Have you ever heard of Buc-ee’s?
If you’re from the American South, the answer is almost definitely yes – even if you’ve never actually been to one.
The convenience store extraordinaire had only 48 locations open as of last December, but it’s a growing legend even beyond the nine states it operates in:
- Alabama
- Colorado
- Florida
- Georgia
- Kentucky
- Missouri
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas.
Southern Living hails it as being "detour worthy" and "a road trip" destination in its own right, adding that:
Who Wants To Be A C-Store Landlord?
“The thing about Buc-ee’s is that, before you’ve been to one, it doesn’t make any kind of sense. And after you’ve experienced it firsthand, you don’t need for it to. It’s a 24-hour mega gas station with a bustling barbecue joint inside – a retail experience that’s part home-décor store and part outdoor fitter. In this gawker’s paradise, the people-watching is surpassed only by the dizzying selection of snacks…
“Folks come for the abundant and obsessively maintained restrooms and stay to browse the corn hole sets, footed pajamas, deer feeders, and scented candles (including some perfumed with the sugary aroma of their signature puffed-corn treat, the Beaver Nugget). You’ll find anything from a 14-ounce tub of bacon grease to a Dutch oven or a cast-iron smoker.”