A popular Cincinnati apparel company is rallying behind a corner store facing a lawsuit from gas station chain Buc-ee's.
Cincy Shirts, an apparel brand co-owned by comedian Josh Sneed and artist Darin Overholser, has designed a t-shirt and a hat in support of Beaver's Mini Mart, a small corner store that has been located in the middle of a neighborhood in Beavercreek, Ohio, for more than two decades and is currently facing a legal battle against Buc-ee's.
According to the product descriptions for both items on the Cincy Shirts website, each shirt and hat sold directly benefits Beaver's Mini Mart's legal fund.
"Meet Beaver's Mini Mart — 1592 Hanes Road — the little roadside stop that's currently getting steamrolled by a certain giant with a very
familiar-looking mascot," the product description for the hat on Cincy Shirt's website reads, while the product description for the t-shirt calls Buc-ee's lawsuit "about as reasonable as a beaver in a business suit."
According to a federal lawsuit filed on July 28, Buc-ee's is suing Beaver's Mini Mart despite the mini mart having no gas pumps and being miles from the nearest interstate. Buc-ee's says its customers may be confused by the mini mart's logo, which features a smiling beaver standing tall next to the store's name in a red-letter font, according to reporting from The Cincinnati Enquirer, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Vik Boparai has owned the mini mart for more than a decade, years before Buc-ee's first expanded out of Texas in 2018 and long before it opened its first Ohio store north of Dayton in April, according to The Enquirer. The news outlet also reports beavers are a popular figure across all of Beavercreek, with numerous businesses and even the local high school featuring different versions of the rodent on their mascots.
"I don't know why they would sue a small business like mine," Boparai said to The Enquirer. "I have two kids and this store is how I feed them."
A snapshot of Buc-ee's lawsuit history
USA TODAY has previously reported on a few of the lawsuits Buc-ee's has filed in the past.
In March 2025, Buc-ee's filed a federal lawsuit against Barc-ee's, a business in southwest Missouri that offered a dog park, coffee and food shops and a Western-themed miniature city.
Buc-ee's claimed that the unauthorized use of its trademarks, including a smiling animal mascot, were benefitting the Missouri convenience store at Buc-ee's expense, while falsely informing consumers that the two businesses are related.
In January 2025, Buc-ee's filed a lawsuit against North Texas gas station Super Fuels, claiming that the Super Fuels' logo, which features a brown, smiling dog in a red cape set against a blue background, is too similar to Buc-ee's. Buc-ee's alleged that Super Fuel's anthropomorphic, cartoon mascot could be confusing to consumers upon first glance.
In March 2013, Buc-ee's sued Texas-based convenience store Chicks, claiming that Chicks stemmed from similar concepts, including site and store design, product variety, construction and the logo.
Though the Chicks logo depicted two smiling chickens, back-to-back, against a red, yellow and black background, Buc-ee's claimed that the logo copied Buc-ee's "iconic marks," like color, shapes and fonts.
Though Chicks' lawyers moved to dismiss the complaint, Chicks ultimately closed in 2014.
John Oliver goads Buc-ee's to sue him, HBO
On the July 26 episode of "Last Week Tonight," Oliver detailed Buc-ee's penchant for suing small businesses whose logos feature cartoon animals, even when they bear very little or no resemblance to Buc-ee's famous – and trademarked – grinning beaver logo.
Oliver ended the episode by daring Buc-ee's to pick on a company its own size and positioned his show and network as a potential target.
"Buc-ee's loves to sue other companies, particularly those with animal mascots," Oliver said in the episode, noting the chain has filed over a dozen lawsuits over the years and threatened more. Oliver also points out Buc-ee's has won almost all of the cases because the other companies usually opt to settle and redesign their logos or just fold completely because, as Oliver points out, "most just don't have the resources to fight a company this big."
Oliver goes on to quote one legal expert who said Buc-ee's should be careful with this strategy because the more you sue these smaller companies, the higher the chance you might run into one who has the means to fight back.
"And that is where we come in," Oliver said in the segment. "Because it turns out, we very much have the will to get into a fight with Buc-ee's."
During the segment, Oliver reintroduces Mr. Nutterbutter, a 7-foot-tall squirrel mascot originally created for a 2017 segment taking aim at former coal executive Bob Murray, which resulted in an unsuccessful defamation lawsuit against the show and HBO.
The show created a cartoon logo of Mr. Nutterbutter that looks similar to the Buc-ee's logo and put the logo on a variety of products, including tumblers, hats, shirts, onesies, mugs and pajamas, among other items.
The items are available for purchase for a limited time at Buc-Off.com, Oliver says in the segment, with all profits going to Hunger Free America, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to end domestic hunger.
"So, if any prominent gas station chain out there has an issue with our new logo and products and wants to get lawyers involved, then you know what? Bring it the f--- on. Although remember, in doing so, you'd be directly taking food out of hungry people's mouths," Oliver says in the segment.
Buc-ee's did not respond to a USA TODAY request for comment.
Contributing: Greta Cross and Marta Mieze, USA TODAY
Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X @GabeHauari or email him at Gdhauari@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mini mart sued by Buc-ee's receives support with merch
