Former Bryan Weingarten

Not the greatest picture but it does show some of how the supermarket used to look. Colloquially known as Weingarten's (which was on the sign), this Houston-based supermarket made its stand in Bryan in the mid-1950s and suffered a similar fate to its Houston stores. Unlike the companion College Station store which lasted no more than around 2 months, Weingarten's here lasted for about three decades before it changed hands and closed less than a decade later.

Opening on September 1, 1954, the 25,000 square foot supermarket was not only the largest in Bryan and featured a variety of things unusual at best though may seem commonplace today. These included a self-service deli, a general merchandise department "where the housewife can find everything from work clothes to dresses to cooking equipment", a drug and tobacco department, "magic carpet" automatic doors, a lunch counter, a children's daycare area "where they'll find comic books and other things to keep their attention", and a full-service butcher department. Courtesy of John Ellisor, check out the article from which these great facts were derived from.

In 1980, the Weingarten family decided to focus on real estate and sell its supermarkets to Grand Union. Despite giving it a new logo, four years later, Grand Union dumped the chain in late 1983. The two-month old College Station store closed permanently while this store (and most of the stores) were sold to Safeway, which closed it in January 1984 and reopened it under its own name, giving the California-based chain four stores in the area. Also at some point, the address changed from 1010 S. College Avenue to 1010 S. Texas Avenue.

Safeway sold the Houston division to management, and it was rebranded as AppleTree in 1989. It finally closed in 1992 as one of the initial (second round of 5) stores to close in bankruptcy and later referred to one of the "dogs" as Richard Goeggel, Vice President of AppleTree, put it, after it shrank to half a dozen stores. In 1995, the former supermarket became Williams Furniture Center, which operated until 1999. After that, the building's history gets a bit more murky as it was subdivided. 1010 S. Texas Avenue #A became "Billiard Barn & Drinkery" from 2001 to 2003. Burton Creek Bar-B-Que also operated from 2001 to 2002 in "suite B" OF 1010 S. Texas Avenue, with C&J Barbecue officially taking over in 2002 as the second location of the chain (from the original off of Harvey Road). Within five years a third location would be established at Southwest Crossing. In August 2022, C&J Barbecue relocated to 2112 West Briargate Drive at William Joel Bryan Park, with Los Plebes Mariscos & Wings opening in Jan. 2024. 1016 S. Texas Avenue, the center portion of the store, ended up becoming a nightclub, first as T&T Billiards in 2003 (it's possible that "A" was Billiard Barn, and "B" was the barbecue spot), then Status in 2004, Whiskey River (2008-2010), Prime Time Nightclub (2011), Rockies (full name: "Rockies The Canyon") which moved here in 2011 from its longtime spot in Post Oak Mall before moving again in 2019. (It was evicted for Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill, which has since closed pretty much all of its locations from lease non-payment), Alquimia Night Club (2019-2020), and currently (since 2021-ish) is the home of TE-JOS Super Deal, which has returned merchandise from discount stores and other odds & ends. 1018 S. Texas Avenue has been Bingo Barn since 2003.

It doesn't look the same as it did, the store received an exterior re-do around 2020. There's a few other pictures from December 2013 below.

UPDATE 02-15-2024: Finally gave this the upgrades it needed (last updates from 2014) and its back on the Index.

103-105 Boyett

I don't think "billiards hall" went with "wholesome", even in the 1960s (from the Battalion).
Part of this post has gotten split off as a new post and the resulting new edit focuses on 103-105 Boyett (one building) and checking on the history of that through Battalion archives (it's possible that stuff will get missed, but for Northgate, the Battalion is the most reliable).

Based on what I could find, 103 and 105 were originally two separate businesses, with both being combined at a certain point.

The oldest reference I can find for 103 Boyett is a short-order restaurant called Grannie's Restaurant (closed on weekends). (I'm putting [1950s] on the opening of the building) and the oldest reference I can for 105 Boyett is for Leon B. Weiss apparel in 1951.

For 103 Boyett, in summer 1963 the Aggie Cue Club opened, a restaurant/pool hall, by 1966 it had become the "University Restaurant and Recreation Center" before becoming El Ranchito in a matter of months, not to be confused with the El Ranchito that appeared at 1037 Texas Avenue South decades later...but then went back to being University Restaurant within the same year.

For 105 Boyett, between 1960 and 1962 it changed to The Discount House (also apparel) which went under in March 1963. In 1966, Sarge's Recreation is mentioned, which took the spot of 103 Boyett. It is likely at this point where the two spaces, Leon B. Weiss/The Discount House and Grannie's/Aggie Cue Club/University Restaurant became one.

There's no reference to 103 Boyett for five years until 1971 with Raywell Laundry & Dry Cleaners. While Raywell appears to have disappeared in the 1970s they did run the dry cleaning operation at the "old hospital" on campus (later picked up by FabricCare Cleaners, which remained until the building's demise). In 1973 105 Boyett was used for University Cycles (motorcycles, not bicycles). Then in 1981 105 Boyett is used for the College Station location of Whole Earth Provision Company which was inspired off of the late Whole Earth Catalog (the about page for Whole Earth Provision Company says as much) and it wasn't even the only chain to do so). While WEPC continues to operate elsewhere the local store closed in 1986.

From the Bryan-College Station Eagle, 1985
The 103 Boyett address re-emerged for its next tenant, Brazos Landing. In 1989 it moved to 4410 College Main) and became Waivers, a nightclub by the end of the year. In 1990, the spot changed hands again to AnNam Tea House...no references after 1992 and re-emerging in 1995 as "The Cue", another billiards hall. Switching over to The Eagle archives, O-Zone first appeared in January 1997 (though The Cue lingered on in advertising), though these were functioning as the same business ("Ozone/The Cue") and briefly becoming Vertigo (c. 1997) before Hole in the Wall took over in 1999. This disappeared between 2004 and 2005. I recall reading that they had common ownership with Shadow Canyon next door (with a connection to it), and the shutdown of Shadow Canyon in December 2004 seems to back that up. Since 2005 it has been O'Bannon's Taphouse, which uses the 103 address, even though actual door was once used for 105 Boyett. O'Bannon's is the most stable tenant of any of these, lasting for twenty years; nothing else got close to that.

UPDATE 06-06-2025: Extensive updates made. Many new businesses have been added to the site for the first time.

Post Oak Square, featuring Weingarten

Picture by author, c. 2019. This shopping center's success hasn't always been here.
Like some of my other older posts, this one has gotten numerous rewrites and updates, and initially the original version of the post actually had some wrong information. This was because the supermarket in question only lasted two months. Post Oak Square was built in 1983 as a strip mall companion to Post Oak Mall. The center struggled in its original incarnation because it was built by different developers than the mall and had very few inlets and outlets. An attempt to connect to Post Oak Mall's ring road was also shot down as the mall decided to take advantage of their property rights and put barricades blocking the access road, and eventually posting guards there before the driveway was removed. (A shout-out to Henry Mayo who helped me nail down where Grandy's was, and also gave information about the ring road access).

Post Oak Square had just one main anchor when it opened, an outlet of Weingarten. The intrigue I've had with this plaza goes back some time, as according to the HAIF's DrFood, "Weingarten's in College Station in the shopping center next to Post Oak Mall. The store was very upscale when it opened. They had gourmet food like Central Market does, a coffee bar, and a huge candy/nut bar. They had a bakery that today would rival Central Markets. Being a Weingarten's they had the only Kosher section in the [greater area]. It then became another name when Weingarten's sold out on the verge of bankruptcy."

When it opened in November 1983, Weingarten was on the small side, but relatively upscale
This was because Weingarten opened in November 1983, just a month before parent company Grand Union decided to divest the company. The older Weingarten near downtown Bryan got sold to Safeway but no such luck for this store.

Definitely some resent there. This has to be the shortest-lived supermarket in Texas. After some seemingly conflicting information, the supermarket did reopen under a new name, Mariel's Fine Foods, in May 1984 (a second location of a Conroe-based independent). By November 1984 (when the ad is from) they had rebranded as Mariel's Home Town Foods associated with Schepp's Grocery Co. of Houston. Note that it offered video rental (rare in 1984) and delivery (also rare, and before 2020 had long fallen out of fashion for smaller markets).

The Conroe location operated until 2003 but the College Station location closed in 1985 as Schepp's Grocery and the Home Town Foods co-op collapsed.

As I said before, there was also a Grandy's between the two entrances.

At some point in the 1980s or 1990s, Grandy's as a chain lost the "Country Cookin'" name.
I'm not sure if Grandy's closed for the shopping center redevelopment or just some other reason. (It closed around April 1992), after all, the next twenty years would see the chain lose a lot of locations and even now continues to drop. I've added an article that adds a picture of the restaurant (which is nearly identical to most of its stores in the region, though a green color rather than a red color these days).

From The Eagle, 1991.

Right below the article was an ad for the "Summer Fun" pack. Do fried chicken places even offer any sort of fruit these days?! With a second attempt at a supermarket dead, in the late 1980s and early 1990s it began to transition to a modern power center.

In 1986, Cavender's Boot City was built at 1400 Harvey and a new retail building was built in 1987 close to Harvey Road on the west side of the property. In 1990, Pier 1 Imports was built in front of Cavender's in a new building (making Cavender's impossible to see from the road). Grandy's was closed in 1992 for the biggest redevelopment of the center which demolished a good part of the main building for Toys R Us (opened c. 1993, this was the address for Linen Warehouse from 1984 to 1987), T.J. Maxx (opened 1994), and Hobby Lobby (opened 1993 in Weingarten's former space). As a result, the shopping center finally saw success over the next decade. Hobby Lobby moved out in the early 2000s and of course Toys R Us failed with the chain in 2018 (keeping the original logo until toward the last few years), but the center has done well, all things considered. Going clockwise from the former Pier 1 Imports closest to the mall...

1402 - Mattress SleepCenters - Formerly Pier 1 Imports until the early 2000s when it moved to Texas Avenue Crossing at Texas Avenue and George Bush. This building was built in 1990 but is considered part of the shopping center.
1400 - demolished - Former Cavender's Boot City, moved out around 2006 and NEVER retenanted (it's the blank spot behind Mattress SleepCenters, and nearly impossible to see). Brazos CAD (had to go back in the archives to see) says this was built in 1986.
1306 - Ollie's Bargain Outlet opened in April 2020 following the closure of aforementioned Toys R Us.
1200 - The aforementioned former Weingarten, Hobby Lobby was in the location for much of the 1990s (since 1994) and left for its current location as soon as the center at Texas and Holleman was built (around 2003). After it left, it was divided into two stores (1200 Harvey and 1210 Harvey), which at the time was a store called "The BOUNCE!" and the 99 Cents Store, which was expanding heavily during that time. The BOUNCE! (hereafter referred to "The Bounce") was a bit overlooked, though it had a colorful facade. According to a surviving ad I found, The Bounce was a "locally owned and operated 12,500 square foot party facility featuring your favorite inflatable castles, obstacle courses, huge slides, rock climbing walls and more, all in a safe, climate controlled environment" and featured "four private party rooms with a private jump arena are available" along with "diner seating with drinks, coffee and snacks plus WiFi access."
These things tend hinge their existence on birthday parties, and for whatever reason, it failed within a few years (maybe lasting from 2006 to 2009), and I think that it's the same reason why Putt-Putt and Gattitown declined and ultimately closed.

Burkes Outlet opened in 1200 in 2013 but closed a decade later (being replaced with an O'Reilly Auto Parts in 2024) and 1210 Harvey is still vacant. Tuesday Morning had moved there in 2012 (from their location off of East 29th) but closed it in an early 2023 bankruptcy round with the remaining chain going under a few months later.
1140 - LL Flooring, formerly - This used to be Avenue (with the address of 1200A), opening in 1994 as part of the center re-do, but it eventually closed. LifeWay Christian Stores opened in spring 2014. It may have absorbed two smaller stores at some point in the past. The store announced closing in February 2019 shortly before the remainder of the chain one month later. In 2020 this became Lumber Liquidators (under the name "LL Flooring" as the company had been during this time) but it too, filed for bankruptcy. While the company was spared this wasn't one of the ones that lived through it.
1128 - TJMaxx - Here since 1994 in the corner.
1120 - The current space combined the former 1112 (Wild Birds Unlimited was here from 1997 to 2004) and 1120. It has held GR8 Laundry since November 2019. 1106 - This has been Once Upon a Child since early 2019, which relocated from Brazos Square. From about 1996 to 2010 the space 1108 was Treasures Gift Shop, later home to Q Beauty. Q Beauty later moved to the former Taste of China building.
1104A - Plato's Closet - This opened around 2009 and still remains open.
1102 - Gumby's Pizza - My records say that this was Imperial Chinese Restaurant from 1984 to 1994, related to the later Texas Avenue location but unrelated to the one on the bypass today). Ninfa's opened in January 1995, according to InSite Magazine. When Ninfa's moved in 2008 to a new spot on the bypass, the space was vacant for a few years before Houston-based Wolfies Restaurant (2012 to September 2016).

The 1100 building as of August 2022 features, from east to west, Victoria's Variedades y Tipicos (this was Merle Norman from about 2006 to 2015, suite D), Bea's Alterations (Suite C, home to Merge Boutique before it moved to Century Square), RA Salon Spa (suite B, Edward Jones until the early 2010s), and Al's Formal Wear (from 1987 to its abrupt August 2023 chain-wide closure).

Finally, for a long time it was rumored that Grandy's was torn down for visibility issues: it did not seem to be stop current management from signing a genuine Krispy Kreme Doughnuts store to be built in the parking lot closest to Mattress SleepCenters. Previously, the closest College Station-Bryan had to Krispy Kreme was some products sold in Shell gas stations around 2003 and 2004, which were made in Houston (as it had a small handful of stores at the time). If you want to hear about the Krispy Kreme's first attempt in Houston, I suggest you visit Houston Historic Retail, which is not my site but I recommend it anyway. Krispy Kreme opened in April 2019 at 1312 Harvey Road, but in the early morning hours of May 13, 2025 burned down, an act perprepated by its own franchisee. After the ruins were cleared it became an empty grass pad for lease, though the medians of Harvey Road make access even more difficult.

"Krispy" and "hot" were certainly puns of the day when the place burned down, but certain forum moderators hated it.

UPDATE 06-15-2025: Updates were reset with changes integrated particularly with Krispy Kreme. Coding was fixed, the Grandy's section was expanded, and a few other things.