Good news for travelers, truck drivers and fresh popcorn enjoyers — the world’s largest Wally’s is officially coming to Independence.

The Independence City Council unanimously approved plans Tuesday night for a Wally’s to be built at 4023 Noland Road, just off of the intersection of Interstate 70 and Noland Road.

The supersize convenience store will replace the tool and office supply stores currently situated there. The nearly 19-acre space was once anchored by a K-Mart.

Wally’s, which first opened in the St. Louis area in 2020, is often compared to Buc-ee’s, an older rest stop chain with a massive, devoted following and a similarly fluffy anthropomorphic mascot. The planned Independence location will be the fourth Wally’s franchise in existence so far, with other locations in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.

A Buc-ee’s is also set to arrive on the other side of the metro soon, with construction on a Kansas City, Kansas location starting this month.

Every Wally’s that has been built since the chain launched in 2020 has been large, with areas of at least 30,000 square feet. However, the planned Wally’s location approved by the City Council is expected to be 54,000 square feet, with 84 gas pumps and 12 electric vehicle charging stations.

Monday night’s approval sets a development process in motion that has been in the works for years. Wally’s CEO Michael Rubenstein has been eyeing an Independence location since at least 2023, and said in November 2023 that he had hoped to get “shovels in the ground” by 2024.

The future Wally’s is just one of several large-scale development projects coming to the business corridor along Noland Road. A Chicago-based developer has proposed bringing a McKeever’s Price Chopper franchise to the now-empty Noland Fashion Square, once the grocery store’s current lease nearby expires in 2028.