OUR SPONSOR
Greater Patchogue coverage is funded in part by New Village at Patchogue, open-concept rental residences with sleek contemporary design. Click here
for a tour.
Every time I drive past the old Boomers property in Medford, I think the same thing.
What a waste.
For nearly a decade, one of eastern Long Island’s most recognizable roadside attractions has sat vacant. The bumper boats are gone. The miniature golf course is quiet. The laughter has been replaced by weeds growing through the pavement.
Last summer, we asked Greater Long Island readers what they thought should come next. Hundreds of votes poured in (825, to be exact).
But I want to focus on the poll’s third-place finisher: Buc-ee’s.
If you’ve never been to one, you’re probably wondering why anyone would write an entire column about a gas station.
That’s because Buc-ee’s isn’t really a gas station.
It’s an experience.
Somewhere along the way, this Texas-born travel center became a destination all its own. People don’t just stop there because they need gas. They plan road trips around it. Families pose for photos with the giant beaver mascot. They leave with Buc-ee’s T-shirts, onesies for babies, paper cones packed with cinnamon-glazed pecans, beef jerky and the nicest restroom experience they will ever, well, experience.
At least on the road.
I’ve never seen anything quite like it.
And I think Long Island is missing out.
Now, before you flood the comments telling me Medford doesn’t need another gas station market, let me further explain.
Buc-ee’s locations are massive. We’re talking stores larger than many supermarkets, with dozens upon dozens of fuel pumps, fresh barbecue carved to order, bakeries, fudge counters, coffee stations, branded merchandise and those famously spotless restrooms.
Some locations are more than 70,000 square feet and feature well over 100 fueling positions. The company continues to expand across the country, adding new locations in several states over the next two years.
More importantly, they become destinations.
People make detours just to visit one. I was driving through Virginia last fall and happened to come upon a brand-new one just south of JMU. It made the trip! (This also now happens to be the closest Buc-ee’s to Long Island, a full 350 miles away, or a good six-hour drive.)
Boomers was a destination, too. Families from Nassau drove there.
Many children’s birthday parties were had there. Teenagers spent summer nights there. Parents took the kids there to break up the summer monotony.
The attraction wasn’t just what was inside the gates. It was the memories people attached to the place.
That’s why the property has felt so empty ever since it closed.
Would a Buc-ee’s recreate those exact memories?
Of course not.
But it would give people a reason to pull off the Long Island Expressway again.
Imagine you’re heading to the Hamptons or Montauk for a few days. Or coming back from the wineries. Or a Smith Point day at the beach.
Instead of another forgettable highway exit, you pull into a Buc-ee’s.
That’s my dream for us all.
That, and it would also bring much-needed jobs to the area. Buc-ee’s has built a reputation for offering wages and benefits that often grab national headlines, particularly for management positions, while employing hundreds of people at many of its larger travel centers.
And yes, I know there are about a thousand reasons this probably won’t happen.
Buc-ee’s hasn’t announced any plans for New York. In fact, the company is still focused on expanding into other states as it steadily expands across the South, Midwest and Southwest.
Maybe the site isn’t big enough. Maybe the zoning doesn’t work. Maybe someone at Buc-ee’s headquarters doesn’t think Long Island gets enough wary road travelers or family road-trippers passing through.
But this isn’t really about predicting what will happen.
It’s about asking what could. Every once in a while, it’s okay to dream a little bigger than another self-storage facility. Those awful blights have been rising from seemingly every piece of vacant Long Island land over the last two decades.
I’m just hoping someone in Texas will read this. And if they do, I’ve got just one thing to say, and sing:
The old Boomers property is waiting for … Bu-bu-bu-bu-bu .. Buc-ee’s!
Click here for more on the Boomers property.
Top: The Buc-ee’s location that opened last year in Mount Crawford, Va., near Harrisonburg, at 6500 Buc-ee’s Blvd. is now the closest location to Long Island. (Credit: GLI/Mike White) Inset: The weeded-over and mothballed former Boomers property in Medford. (Credit: GLI/Nick Esposito, file photo)
Your Long Island news, delivered.
Subscribe to the GLI Newsletter — its free
