A South Texas convenience store chain often compared to Buc-ee's is planting a flag in Kerrville, where the City Council unanimously approved conditional-use permits on Oct. 13 for a truck stop and fueling station at the intersection of State Highway 16 North and IH-10. The project, branded The Texan, calls for a 20,074-square-foot store on roughly 12.57 acres, complete with 216 automobile parking spaces, seven handicap spaces and 25 spots for tractor-trailers.
The site currently holds a smaller Exxon station, which The Texan purchased, according to dailytimes.com. Kerrville's Planning and Zoning Commission had already signed off on the project in September before it went to the full council, as reported by kerrcountylead.com. Per Chron, the new location would sit near several hotels, a Whataburger and a Cracker Barrel Old Country Store.
Fuel Tanks, Floodplain Concerns and the Footprint
Site plans show the development would store a combined 80,000 gallons of fuel, split among unleaded and super gasoline, diesel and ethanol-free fuel, and biodiesel and diesel exhaust fluid, according to the same kerrcountylead.com report. The project also drew scrutiny over its proximity to a 100-year floodplain, per the Planning and Zoning Commission report in the Daily Times. A Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation filing shows the project registered under Project No. TABS2025009670 on Jan. 15, 2025.
A Company Built From One Yorktown Store
The Texan traces back to Pete and Patricia Dlugosch, who opened the company's first store in their hometown of Yorktown in February 2008, according to thetexanstores.com. Yorktown sits roughly 80 miles southeast of San Antonio and about 150 miles southwest of Houston, per Chron. By the end of 2010, the couple had acquired two smaller convenience stores in Yorktown and converted them to the Texan brand, the company's site states.
The chain pushed beyond Yorktown starting in 2014, when it built what was then its biggest store in Three Rivers, Texas, according to thetexanstores.com. It later expanded into Cuero, Victoria and two West Texas locations, and opened a Goliad store in March 2020. The Texan now operates 16 active locations concentrated mostly in South and Southeast Texas, Chron reports, with its most recent opening in Portland, Texas, and a 17th location planned for College Station.
The Buc-ee's Comparisons Keep Coming
The Texan's big-box format, cowboy-hat logo and bright yellow branding have invited near-constant comparisons to Buc-ee's, and Chron notes a Reddit user in 2024 described the chain as a copycat of its larger rival in layout, menu, snacks, sign wording and even store fonts. The Texan's convenience stores stock snacks and drinks, branded meats and cheeses, and sporting goods and clothing alongside other merchandise, according to Chron. The Texan has also told KBTX that its stores include a dining room, gift store and clean restrooms when it announced plans for a College Station location in 2024.
One distinction the chain has leaned on is its diesel pump setup for 18-wheelers, which a 2026 comparison noted Buc-ee's does not offer, according to mysanantonio.com. A separate 2024 mysanantonio.com report described The Texan as resembling Buc-ee's and noted the chain had 15 locations with two more gas stations on the way at that time, though available evidence does not establish an exact current location count beyond Chron's tally of 16 active sites. Whether the Kerrville store will match that diesel-friendly design remains to be seen once construction details become public.
