A Stuckey’s restaurant sits off a major U.S. highway.

Long before Buc-ee’s there was Stuckey’s.

As Kentucky prepares for a second Buc-ee’s in Smiths Grove off I-65, the nostalgia of days gone by when a national chain of strategically located convenience stores dotted 12 major highways across the United States, including Kentucky.

Texas-based Buc-ee’s opened its first Kentucky store in Richmond in April 2022, and when they did it brought flashbacks of Stuckey’s.

In 1937, W.S. Stuckey operated a small roadside store in Eastman, Georgia, with a purpose of getting rid of an overabundance of pecans he had gathered. Soon he realized he was on to something as the emerging traveling public began stopping by.

Not long after, he turned it into a larger building. And before long, others followed. Not only did travelers use his advertised clean restrooms, but also bought his pralines, pecan log rolls and saltwater taffy.

Like many early day success stories, Stuckey did his own market studies. And how he did it seemed so simple.

“He would drink a cup of coffee and drive as far as he could until he needed a restroom,” Stefanie Stuckey, his granddaughter said on her website. “That’s where he put another location.”

Eventually the chain of franchises grew to 368 stores in 30 states. Inside and out, Stuckey’s marketing was genius. The 4,000 billboards scattered throughout added to the anticipation of what was ahead.

Even though the stop might have been for the clean restrooms or gas, once inside Mr. Stuckey’s marketing plan kicked into high gear.

Limited seating encouraged customers to walk around and buy things, and while everyone went to the restroom, they passed walls full of candy.

As Stuckey’s became the top go-to roadside convenience store, first in the South and then the westward expansion, they sold friendliness first. But, it wasn’t long until almost everyone who entered came away with a pecan log roll. The store became a travel experience – stopping and shopping. Fresh orange juice, country hams, gift boxes, ice water, apple cider, jellies and air conditioning were a part of the billboard message and art on the exterior of the teal blue roofed buildings. And so was “free shipping” in big letters.

While interstate highways began to find their way onto maps, so did Stuckey’s location literature find a home in the glove box of many automobiles.

As important as the food, restrooms and gas were to Stuckey’s customers, Mr. Stuckey had figured that every kid would want to leave with a rubber alligator or piggy bank. He also knew that every family was collecting mugs, salt and pepper shakers or a shot glass. Today you don’t have to look any further than Cracker Barrel or the new Buc-ee’s to see that Stuckey’s was on to something.

W.S. Stuckey was a practical man. He tried to put himself in the heads of the traveler. That was why he located his stores on the northbound side of the roadways. His reasoning made sense.

“When families are headed south they are in a hurry to get there,” he said in a publication. “Heading north might be a little slower.”

One of those northbound lanes was on 31-W at the corner of Hwy. 101, a couple of miles from, believe it or not, Smiths Grove.

In the early 60s, Stuckey’s son, Bill, had an idea. Since the business was taking care of food and gas, why not lodging. Stuckey’s Carriage House Inn opened, four of them. However, they were short-lived and after a few years closed.

“I remember working at Stuckey’s as a kid,” recalled Cathy Higgins Howard. “My dad had been an attorney in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, when he decided opening a Stuckey’s store in Kentucky would be a better opportunity for our family.”

Ralph Higgins’ Stuckey’s opened near Smiths Grove 14 miles from Bowling Green, in what might be considered “in the middle of nowhere.” It was so successful that before long he had stores in Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois and Georgia.

“I worked there through high school fixing burgers, making shakes and ice cream and the gas pumps,” Cathy Howard said. “My older brother Fred and I were there a lot. I remember gas was 39 cents a gallon.”

Today there are only 13 of the original free standing Stuckey’s around. A merger with the Pet Milk Company in the mid-’60s left the stores in a time warp of which they never fully escaped. Interstate highways left many of the locations isolated, and the Middle East oil crises in the early ’70s didn’t help.

Stefanie Stuckey now owns the Stuckey’s brand and is trying to bring it back to life although she is up against the likes of the superstore Buc-ee’s, and giant travel centers that look more like a Walmart than a gas station.

Remnants of the yesteryear Stuckey’s can still be seen. Though not appealing to traveling families, the high-pitched roof structures have given way to discount liquor stores, adult only shops and service stations.

Buc-ee’s in Smiths Grove, is slated to open in June 2024 at I-65 exit 38.

By the way, the experience that a young Fred Higgins gained from working for his dad, Ralph, at Stuckey’s led to him opening over 200 Minit Mart Convenient Stores throughout Kentucky and several states beginning in the late ’60s.

— There’s no excuse, get up, get out and get going! Gary P. West can be reached at westgarypdeb@gmail.com