Abandoned Ready 2 Go

November 2025 picture. This was attempted to make the same angle as the GasSigns.org picture below.
Billups Service Station first opened at 1600 S. College Avenue in 1957 in what was a huge opening for a small gas station, and in the mid-1970s rebuilt with a modern convenience store (Brazos CAD says 1975). At some point in the 1980s, the whole chain was rebranded as Charter Food Stores, and in 1988 the chain was bought by Circle K. (There were 538 stores at the time, with three in Bryan and one in Hearne).

Remarkably, there is a picture of what it looked like in the Charter days, perhaps one of the only examples of what Charter looked like. Despite Circle K's plans, the gas stations remained as Charter¹ but otherwise was a Circle K in all but name² and was sold to Duke & Long in 1999 with the other (few) Circle K stores in town, all getting rebranded as Conoco (with an "Everyday" convenience store). Within a few years this had dissolved and the former Circle K stores went their different ways, with this one becoming Ready 2 Go by mid-2003, and if it had the Conoco branding in this era that went away by the mid-2000s. After deteriorating for years, the gas station was finally dead by summer 2020.

1. Circle K filed for bankruptcy protection in 1990, which probably explains why Charter wasn't rebranded.
2. Local ads referred to the stores as "Circle K/Charter".

Orr's Minimax

Orr's had a sign, of course, but this one was far more prominent. For many years, it was blue and read "LAUNDRY".
Waldon Orr's follow-up to Orr's Food Center in downtown Bryan was Orr's Minimax¹ in the Ridgecrest neighborhood of Bryan at 3516 South Texas Avenue in late 1953 (at around 15,000 square feet) and in the 1960s an expansion was done to 22,000 square feet (if it was the biggest supermarket in Bryan at the time, it was soon to be broken by Weingarten within a year). It was also next to the Ridgecrest Washatorium, which opened around that same time as part of the building...though it looks like it shared the building with Orr's as it moved to a new portion of the building in 1958 (3502 S. Texas).

The Tim Horton's is the former Mr. Hamburger, looks like the renovation was faster than thought. Unfortunately it's not open yet. Like its downtown counterpart, Orr's was taken over by Piggly Wiggly in 1971 and closed in 1985. By 1986 it wound up in the hands of Malone & Hyde, which owned the master franchise for Piggly Wiggly.² It was growing its chain of Auto Shack automotive parts stores and even though by 1987 it had officially spun off Auto Shack, it must've had some ownership in it as Auto Shack announced its opening with the idea of it hitched to Piggly Wiggly. The Bryan store was both in smaller markets than what Auto Shack was used to opening in, and even was a bit larger than the average Auto Shack store. In February 1988 Auto Shack opened, though in 1989 adopted a new name after losing a legal battle with Tandy Corporation (of Radio Shack), which sued for trademark infringement...AutoZone. While AutoZone continued to thrive as a company, around 1996, AutoZone moved to 1640 S. Texas Avenue, and the space was taken by Aaron's rent-to-own a few years later. Aaron's didn't use all the space of Orr's/Piggly Wiggly (I'm not sure if AutoZone did); Dollar General shared it at 3518 but they left a decade later (replaced briefly by Awards & More; now vacant).

Now we get back to Ridgecrest Laundry, which continued to exist into the late 1990s (outlasting both Piggly Wiggly and AutoZone) all the way into the early 2000s.

The reason I bring up the laundry is it had a large 1950s-style sign on Texas Avenue that still stuck around after the laundromat closed, until a storm destroyed it at some point in the 2000s. It was rebuilt as a sign for RIMCO (its new tenant) in 2006, which at the time was owned by Aaron's (later sold and rebranded as Rent-a-Tire in 2015). I can't find when the laundry sign was destroyed but I want to say sometime around 2004 or 2005. It was in the papers but I wasn't able to find it.

1. Minimax was a franchised grocery operation and when Orr's Minimax joined the franchise it was still growing. Not too long after leaving Minimax, the Minimax franchise would go into decline.
2. As previously mentioned, see Wikipedia for the ownership changes of Piggly Wiggly over the years. In particular, Malone & Hyde was purchased by Fleming, which also owned Minimax. Go figure.

UPDATE 11/10/2025: Retroactively added the pictures (taken by me, November 2025). Also I didn't mention this because I couldn't tell, but Rent-A-Tire did at some point close, so if the sign gets knocked over again, who will host it?

Rent-A-Tire status: definitely closed.

1800 Texas Avenue South

The strip center as of November 2025. The foundation of Harvey Washbanger's/Mazzio's with its flooring can also be seen. Previously, the view of the wall would've been impossible. Photo taken by author.
Briefly mentioned in the Harvey Washbanger's post (written a few months before a fire destroyed the restaurant)1, was the original 1800 Texas Avenue South tenant, Pepper's, an "old fashioned" hamburger restaurant (in vogue at the time as Fuddruckers and similar establishments like Flakey Jake's)2. Owned by the Ken Martin group, Pepper's opened in 1978 (there was another reference to the address a few years earlier, the "B-CS Flea Market" in 1975).

In the late 1980s it was redeveloped as a new strip center (as part of also redeveloping the former Kashim) with most of it occupied by 2-Day Video, a video rental chain based out of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Around late 1996, Blockbuster Entertainment (buoyed by corporate parent Viacom at the time, a fact that is rarely factored into the company's decline) purchased 2-Day Video and converted it to their name in early 1997.³ Blockbuster eventually jumped to the top of the hill at the old site of https://csroadsandretail.blogspot.com/2011/01/toms-bbq-and-steakhouse.html">Tom's Barbecue & Steakhouse, where it would remain until the chain went bankrupt.

As of 2025 the stores here include, from left to right, Game X Change, CleanEatz, Top Nails, Cricket, CPR Cell Phone Repair, and Rocks Discount Vitamins-n-More. I've lost track of what exactly was what, but going back in Google Maps, CleanEatz was Chill Milkshake and Waffle Bar (opened 2021 but maybe for like a year or two at most), Yogurtland (2010-2019)⁴, and in 2007 was another location of Western Beverages. Top Nails has been there since 2005 (it was Planet Beach Tanning Salon in the early 2000s), Cricket was here since 2007, though originally with a different logo), and the phone repair place was Pro-Cuts (which was an early tenant, operating from 1988 to 2013) but not before becoming Pinot's Palette for a few years. Rock's used to be "Nutrition Central", but not before becoming Just for Hair. There were others too, I remember Texas Avenue Cigars, which had a green sign that resembled the Texas Avenue signs on the stoplights (it later moved to a new location as Cavalier Cigar Company. There was also Hurricane Office Supply & Printing (an early tenant from 1986 but did not last more than a few years) and more than likely a few others I missed.

1. The College Station Fire Department unfortunately was not able to save Harvey Washbanger's, but they DID save the strip center from the fire, there wasn't even smoke damage on the walls.
2. Our area did not have a Flakey Jake's, though there were two in Houston in the mid-1980s for a brief time.
3. Unlike 2-Day Video, Blockbuster had a policy against NC-17 movies, meaning that titles like The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover and Showgirls would've been removed and/or replaced with edited R-rated versions.
4. Also, very briefly, "Swirls" afterward; more of the same. Probably lost the franchise.

Wehrman's Cafe

"It isn't a meal without good coffee." Words to live by. (1971 phone book).
Located at 1009 West 25th Street (1009 William Joel Bryan Parkway) and alluded to back when I did the Saenz Tamales post, Wehrman & Sons opened in July 1950 as a restaurant and grocery store with some Shell gas pumps out front. In 1953 the grocery store (associated with IGA) and the restaurant expanded, serving typical American food of that era (chicken fried steak, french fries, etc.). Unfortunately I don't have a picture for it but there are a few bad "took a photograph of a book page" images if you look for it on search engines. Over the years, Wehrman's Cafe as it was later known, changed hands, but remained in family ownership, removing the gas pumps and stores for additional seating. In the mid-1980s (possibly as early as 1979) it was sold and renamed "Jim's Catfish House and Wehrman's Restaurant" to try to transition to new ownership and a new name but that never happened as the restaurant closed in 1988. but a full transition to the Jim's Catfish House name never happened as it closed in 1988.¹ About ten years later it was knocked down for Rodriguez Wheel Alignment.

1. No relation to Jim & Sue's Catfish & Steaks, which was both located nearby and around that same era.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I've added a new label to existing posts, entitled [endangered]. This refers to buildings that have a high probability of being torn down in the near future, either by future development, imminent abandonment and redevelopment, and so on. (Merely being abandoned is not a reason, there has to be a reason or announcement behind it.)

Former Western Auto

This picture was taken in October 2025 by author.
If you follow my website I used to have a list of businesses on Harvey Road, though I discontinued it a while ago. Today we're going back and re-adding and expanding those entries, starting with 204 Harvey Road, which is currently Advance Auto Parts. The story goes back to Western Auto, however.

When Western Auto opened in 1986 at Townshire¹, it wasn't a stranger to the community, a previous Western Auto Associated Store had existed at 300 East 25th Street in Bryan from the 1950s to 1970s. The new corporate-owned store at Townshire, subleased the space from Texas Central Hardware (which moved in 1982, but struggled to deal with the large 60,000 square feet Sears left behind), and dealt exclusively with auto parts (the corporate stores had dropped the broader selection). It also used the Sears auto bays, something that Texas Central Hardware wasn't able to use.

Within a few months of Western Auto's opening, however, Central Texas Hardware shuttered, leaving Western Auto beside itself. In 1990, it left for a brand-new building at 204 Harvey Road, the subject of this post. While older Western Auto stores had a broader selection of appliances and home & garden supplies, the corporate-owned stores by this time were exclusively auto parts, something both the 1986 and 1990 store had.

Although the Western Auto name is gone, the store opened at 204 Harvey is still open today. At the time of the opening of this location, Western Auto was owned by Sears, Roebuck, & Company (it bought Western Auto from its old owners Wesray Capital in 1988), which of course had a large full-line store at 1500 Harvey Road at Post Oak Mall. The biggest difference between the current store and the original Western Auto is that it had an automotive service center, which was a decision by Sears (competition with Sears Auto Center, perhaps?) and affected the local store in 1997 when it was converted to a new name (Parts America) among a major closure round of Western Auto, and in 1998, Sears gave up entirely by selling both Western Auto and Parts America to Advance Auto Parts, and in 1999, the store was rebranded again to Advance Auto Parts, though around that time, the automotive service center was subleased to CarDoc, an independent auto repair shop.

As Sears had converted the company-owned Western Auto stores to Parts America (and Advance Auto Parts finished the job), Advance Auto Parts shut down the Western Auto Supply Company division and gave the franchised stores until 2006 to change their names, ending the use of Western Auto anywhere.

1. The Townshire article needs a major upgrade as of this writing. The Sears wasn't as small as I originally quoted.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I changed the email on the site. I thought it hadn't been working for months, but it was. Still, I can't trust it and it has been changed.

The French Quarter Apartments

Newspaper article from 1966, the first time them or that address was mentioned. A short one today. The last time we covered dead apartment complexes was Normandy Square (if you don't count the residences at Texas Oaks), and like Normandy Square, this one is at Northgate, The French Quarter Apartments at 601 Cross Street.

Unfortunately, while I did record some of the basic history elsewhere, noting that in fall 2007 they had become Gleissner Hall Apartments¹ under the ownership of St. Mary's Catholic Church before they were demolished in early 2017 and effectively land-banked for their master plan. It's currently a parking lot.

As it has long since been demolished the best I can really offer is one of its first advertisements as seen above and a link to Google Maps Street View when the apartments were still there.

1. This was from a 2007 (maybe 2008) article from The Battalion entitled "Living by faith" but finding it again has proved to be elusive.

The Country Kitchen

Advertisement from c. 1970 phone book
Back before Highway 47 (which was its name for many years), the airport terminal, and other fixtures west of FM 2818 on Raymond Stotzer Parkway, which despite the development of the "Biocorridor" and other new features is still considered the fringe of the Bryan-College Station, there was the Country Kitchen (unassociated with any other restaurants, including a franchised operation back in the 1970s and 1980s). Built in 1961 (or 1968, there is conflicting information) by Frank and Mae Meads and resembling a typical one-story ranch home (this was not, in fact, its original use, and was built as such to be converted into a house).¹ The restaurant, located a little over two miles west of FM 2154² originally served barbecue, but expanded to chicken fried steak and catfish within a few years, and in 1975 leased to Ray Martin (I believe the brother of famous College Station restaurateur Ken Martin) which had all-you-can-eat dinners (chicken or fish), along with other options (including chicken fried steak) served every day of the week. The pies were dropped as a menu item, and the Meads felt like Ray Martin was "turning it into fast food" despite otherwise running it well, and planned to take it back over when the lease expired in late 1982. Unfortunately, the restaurant burned down in April 1982 destroying the restaurant and the antique collection the Meads had built up there. The building went quickly, not just because of its isolated location (firefighters had to bring their own water and ultimately resorted to pumping water from the pond on the property) but because of grease-soaked walls and floors (plus, by the time Frank Mead was even alerted to the fire, flames were pouring out of the window and the roof).

When the Meads rebuilt and reopened in 1984 the area was in recession. Five restaurants had failed in June 1984 alone (but were "all student places").³ Ultimately, the reincarnation was short-lived, closing in August 1989 for the construction of Highway 47 and reconstruction of FM 60 (the frontage road is where the restaurant was). (This also marks the first FM 60 entry covered without being University Drive or University Drive East, which is why I made the new [FM 60] label).

The pond, the houses next to it, and the restaurant were all part of the same property. 1. This is discussed in the 1984 article about the reopening of the restaurant.
2. The modern address is 4812 Raymond Stotzer Parkway, still owned by the Meads family. On old maps and some references, this part of FM 60 was called Jones Bridge Road but it wasn't until 1992 when the current name was adopted, during which I assume the addresses were added.
3. The only one I can 100% confirm was Bogie's and likely The Stadium.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A bunch of changes have been made to the labels, which I've adjusted recently again. [Loupot's] has been added to the new post from the other day as well as others, [Charles Stover] and [Costa Dallis] has joined [Joe Ferreri] and [Ken Martin] as a post grouping, and a few new chains now have their own label including ones that only made it to one location in the area. There were a few obsolete tags that were taken out ([railroad], [services], [service businesses], [drug store]). Went through [demolished] and replaced many of them with [redevelopment] (this one sticks with [demolished]). This is addressed in the FAQ.

Loupot's Southgate

From The Eagle, August 12, 1988
As a complement to their Northgate location, then-locally based Loupot's built a second store here in August 1988. Like their Northgate location, however, the store closed in spring 2012. Sometime afterwards, Maroon & White, LP moved in, better known as TexAgs. (Their film subsidiary, Texas Filmworks, was in the building before moving out to the old Chevron, where you can also see a picture of the building). TexAgs owns MyBCS, a popular Bryan-College Station forum that they ended up fully integrating into their main site. (I will refrain from discussions regarding TexAgs directly, though I will comment that the moderation team takes the rather pretentious term of "Staff" despite almost certainly being a volunteer position).

There also used to be a barbershop accessible on the upper level (Southgate Barbers) but I think that moved out by the time TexAgs moved in.

The article above mentions a Quicker Sticker, but it wasn't there for very long (it first opened off Cavitt Street in 1984) and I don't see anything on old aerials. Did they operate out of the then-Gulf's garage...?

EDITOR'S NOTE: A major re-do was done to Westgate Center's article. Authentic coastline atmospheres, salsa-saturated sandwiches, and Blimpie's second run, it's all here on the new page! Don't forget to check out that Ko-fi link. If we raise $100 I'll make the Defunct Business List, a list of every store and restaurant covered in this blog with a link back to its appropriate post.

Former Boston's The Gourmet Pizza

This was taken in June 2015 (by author) not too long before Razzoo's opened (but before the old Boston's signage was cleaned off and new signage installed).
As the "FM 60" directory on Carbon-izer.com is soon to be dismantled (see this archived version), I should discuss the next restaurant just to the right of 830 University Drive East, this time 820 University Drive East. It's current tenant has been Razzoo's Cajun Cafe since August 2015, but opened in August 2006 as "Boston's The Gourmet Pizza", an export version of Canadian-based Boston Pizza (I believe it was to prevent conflicts with Boston Market, but as Boston Market's star fell, the trademarks eventually changed). This closed around summer 2014.¹

This post as currently written may have an update forced before year-end, as earlier in October, Razzoo's parent company has filed for bankruptcy, and while the restaurant chain may live on in some form, most of its locations won't. (It already closed three locations prior--Oklahoma City, Pasadena, and Corpus Christi, a store in Winston-Salem closed last year).

1. Boston Pizza closed their stores in San Antonio and Houston, but in Dallas, it lives on and you can see it retired the "Boston's The Gourmet Pizza" for just Boston's Pizza in around early 2018 if not the tail-end of December.

Holick's on College Main

Picture from Flickr user "treyerice". Unfortunately it's just a thumbnail salvaged from an archived version of this website, the original was deleted.
While it is the least interesting history of the buildings in the block, it's perhaps the most important, and the only one that hasn't been covered in detail yet. 106 College Main was the longtime home of Holick's (which makes the famous Corps of Cadets Senior Boots) for many years. The longtime home of Holick's was built in the 1930s and definitely operating by the 1950s, but in 2005 it was sold out of family ownership and moved to Westgate Center in 2006, which is about when that picture above was taken. By 2007, a sign hung over the facade for "Hookah Station" (looking even worse than the photo above, and lacked the maroon-and-white awnings), which closed in the early 2020s for One15 (moved from 115 College Main, a bit of a misnomer now).

EDITOR'S NOTE: I have been trying to clear out the queue of posts to be updated, which is why this post may seem a bit lackluster. Significant updates have been done to Texas Avenue Crossing and Under the Water Tower (renamed to "Former Bud Ward Volkswagen"), in addition to smaller updates on other posts. Westgate Center is another post that is to be updated in the future.

Orr's Food Center

This picture from Loopnet is the best picture I can find; unfortunately, it's the renovated version. It didn't used to look like this.

We've touched on Piggly Wiggly before, with the first local store in 1963 (well, under Piggly Wiggly Red River, anyway, apparently one existed a generation earlier in Bryan) and the fifth store they opened when Lewis & Coker departed from their space next to Kmart.

But an important part of Piggly Wiggly's growth in the area...before falling to an over-saturated market (the area was "overgroceried" in 1985, a chronic issue that would last into the 1990s with Winn-Dixie closing its College Station store for the same reason)...was Orr's. Waldon H. Orr got involved with Louis Mauro's Louis' Market at Main Street and 23rd Street in 1939 (324 Main Street, a small storefront by today's standards) and in April 1948 opened a comparatively modern store at 200 East 24th Street, featuring just 8,500 square feet of space. At the time, Orr's Food Center was the largest grocery store in town (a record that has been continuously been broken). A few years later, Orr opened a second store at 3516 S. Texas Avenue and in the 1960s completed an expansion that almost doubled the size of the store, to approximately 12,000 square feet. While the downtown location remained as Orr's Food Center, the second location was referred to as Orr's Minimax, a franchised operation of stores that was owned by wholesaler Fleming Company Incorporated¹. In 1971, both Orr's stores were sold to Piggly Wiggly Red River Co., Inc., a large Piggly Wiggly franchisee operation out of Shreveport with stores from Austin to Baton Rouge² and stretching up to Missouri, which simply rebranded the Orr's stores as its own name (you can see Orr's in Piggly Wiggly form here). In the early 1980s Piggly Wiggly Red River either collapsed or otherwise sold its stores to Six Star Foods, a consortium of local businessmen, at which point consisting of just the two former Orr's, the former Lewis & Coker store, the Hearne store, and a store in Rockdale. Six Star Foods ceased operations in December 1985. The first to go was the Rockdale store (closed within a matter of months), then the one next to Kmart, and lastly this location, along with it the other Bryan location (the Hearne store was sold to Malone & Hyde³).

In 1986 Frank and Pete Palasota reopened the store as Pal's Supermarket. Pal's rearranged the store to make the shelves lower and easier to get around the store (with making multiple half-aisles instead of longer ones) but I think this was just a way to stock less merchandise. Pal's was unfortunately a failure, closing sometime in late 1987 with little fanfare. If Six Star Foods couldn't keep Piggly Wiggly afloat with the competition, Pal's couldn't do better. Pal's was mentioned as one of the participating retailers of a Brazos Food Bank food drive³ and the last mention of it was in March 1987 when a 67-year-old man drove into the parking lot in his truck and took his own life.

Not too long after (I suspect Pal's sold the lease and quietly closed) A.B.E. Systems, an office supplies dealer took up the space but it must have left something behind as references appear in 1998 for an antiques store called "A Bygone Era", and in 1999, "A Better Environment".

By 2005, it was divided into two smaller medical suites, with an otolaryngologist taking up residence (David Suchowiecky, MD) and chiropractor David Bailey, DC, in the other (d/b/a Back & Joint Clinic), and by 2007 the ENT doctor had been replaced by Lone Star Legal Aid. By December 2012 it was Infinity Real Estate & Management and by 2016, Wayne Carroll Enterprises (looks like the corporate office of The Chocolate Gallery, if that's the same business).

By 2022 the building had been renovated, losing the original architectural features like the glazed glass blocks of Orr's and had smaller tenants. With the East 24th facade divided into 200, 202, and 204 (200-202 having AB Hormone Therapy, 204 having St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store and the Tabor side also getting sub-divided, with 307 North Tabor Road getting a branch of Engel & Völkers, and 311 North Tabor Road getting Dirt Road Home, it seems that at least the building has a future ahead of it, but there's nothing at the site to remind visitors to downtown Bryan of what was once the town's largest, most modern grocery store.

1. For more information on Minimax, please see Houston Historic Retail. Fleming (later Fleming Companies starting around 1981) will also figure a bit into this story.
2. Piggly Wiggly was never truly a chain, it franchised its name and format, much like a fast food franchise. Both H-E-B and Winn-Dixie were originally Piggly Wiggly franchisees.
3. Memphis-based Malone & Hyde were the owners of the Piggly Wiggly brand at the time and based out of Memphis. Besides being the one-time owner of Piggly Wiggly, its biggest success was Auto Shack, founded in 1978 and spun off in 1986 (renamed AutoZone in 1987 due to a lawsuit by Tandy Corporation). Malone & Hyde (and by extension Piggly Wiggly) were sold to Fleming Companies in 1988, and in 2003 C&S Wholesale Grocers got the brand in Fleming Companies' bankruptcy.
4. The others included the "big three" at the time, Safeway, Kroger, and Winn-Dixie...plus 7-Eleven.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I'm in the middle of another project that I hope will be a big thing (can't reveal too much of it right now) but as part of that, Kettle and Fort Shiloh got big updates. Pay attention to the Confucius Chinese Cuisine page as well...that's also to receive a major update, hopefully coming by October 6th.

Aggieland Outfitters

Picture by author, April 2014. I had to touch it up to make visible.
Moving down University Drive to University Drive East from our last post we get to 303 University Drive East. (All these years later and I still have University Drive East photos from 2014...and more to come!). I wanted to briefly touch on this Aggieland Outfitters location as part of phasing out the Carbon-izer.com City Directories (of College Station-Bryan). Originally, there were two buildings here, and Aggieland Outfitters opened in 303A University Drive East in 2010 (there were two other locations; one on George Bush Drive, the other at Post Oak Mall). A few years later (2013), both buildings were torn down for a new Aggieland Outfitters store. New parking was soon added after that, but it was reconfigured (mostly torn up) to build a new office building to replace the parent company location (Kalcorp Enterprises) at Graham Road. I can't find too much on the original pre-2013 buildings as they were mostly intended for non-retail use from the looks of it. In 1984, 303-B was home to Sun Shield Applications, in 1993 and 2001 WTA Leasing (apartment locator service) and I can't find anything for 303-A. This Yelp review suggests it might have been a dental office at one point which would make sense...if the review wasn't from 2018. In any case, the former buildings are one of the things in town that I still know little about.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Recently I went back and updated Taco Villa's article which goes over its history as Del Taco and Quick as a Flash. And always, if you like this blog, don't forget to donate!

University Book Store on Northgate

There have been a few changes since this June 2013 picture (picture by author), Domino's changed its font, its logo, and painted the building tan, Potbelly changed the logo and is now "Potbelly Sandwich Shop". Oh and Starbucks closed!
By now you may have heard that Starbucks at 409 University Drive is closing. With this blog's current policy on what can be included, that would qualify it alone, but it goes back farther than that. From what I can tell the building was built in the late 1950s per Brazos CAD hosting Shaffer's at 409 Sulphur Springs and a few other tenants, most notably in the 411 space where Starbucks later lived for years. (I have heard the original tenant was a second location of a Bryan jewelry store called Varner's, but have yet to verify that).

In any case, at the 409 space was Shaffer's, a bookstore that had other items like music, hobbyist items (boats, cars, and airplanes), and a few other items.¹ By 1967 the store had become Shaffer's University Book Store and by 1973 had dropped the Shaffer's moniker. University Book Store didn't occupy the entire space during its nearly fifty-year lifespan. Aside from the supposed Varner's location, in 1969, 411 University became home to the A&M Agency of the National Farm Life Insurance Company and in the early 1980s changed hands to The Yogurt Pump, a frozen yogurt shop (possibly the first of its kind in College Station). The parent company of The Yogurt Pump, Lone Star Yogurt Company, retooled the business for fall 1983 as Sweetlix Creamery (after actually going under the Lone Star Yogurt Company name in summer 1983), but that closed in 1984 and reopened in fall 1984 as Mignone's Italian Ices (which also sold some pasta dishes too). By 1986 it was going as Mignone's of Philadelphia (was there even a Mignone's in Philadelphia? Who knows!). After 1986 there's no more references to it; I guess University Book Store did absorb the extra space.

From what I can tell around 2001 they sub-leased a portion to Domino's Pizza (which moved from their old location at 1504 Holleman Drive (part of that was to help move them closer to the university, as their 3104 Texas Avenue South location was doing business in College Station) and the whole chain collapsed (with their other locations like their University Drive East store and their extremely short-lived Wellborn Road location) in early 2006. After it closed, part of it was filled with Domino's, which moved from their old location at 1504 Holleman Drive (part of that was to help move them closer to the university, as their 3104 Texas Avenue South location was doing business in most of the growing south College Station area).

The vacant space was redeveloped in time for fall 2006 with Potbelly Sandwich Works as it was called back then (now it's just Potbelly Sandwich Shop2) occupying most of the space and the corner hosting Starbucks Coffee in August 2006. (It was the second "real" Starbucks in town after the opening of the Texas Avenue and Holleman location which was the first).

The Starbucks would operate for the next 19 years but in September 2025 it would announce its closure effective on the 27th. Despite being the most easily accessible Starbucks to foot traffic, the store had its challenges. It closed early (7 pm, not good for late-night studying), wasn't really unique anymore (as licensed Starbucks now operate throughout the campus), had what was likely the highest rent among the other stores, lacked a drive-through (only the 2002 Holleman/Texas location lacks a drive-through, and that has lower rent...plus parking). Plus, it's just not unique anymore. It was fun when it was one of only two Starbucks shops in town, but now (after this closure) there will still be nine others, all located strategically around town. It is still Northgate though, so I expect it to be replaced with something, perhaps another coffee shop or cafe, in short order.

1. Shaffer's had moved from a smaller location.
2. It should be noted that earlier in September, Potbelly announced its sale to convenience store/gas station operator RaceTrac but I didn't think that to be significant enough to be included in the prose.

What was on Texas Avenue before Super 8?

A nice picture of the original 301 Texas courtesy The Eagle. Note the Red Barn Cafe behind it.

Will I ever run out of things to talk about on Texas Avenue? Not yet! Much like the Fairfield Inn next to it (well, it's Best Western as of this writing), the College Station Super 8 was a 1990s redevelopment of older businesses on that lot. While the Fairfield Inn, er, Best Western, is in Bryan, the Super 8 (301 Texas Avenue South) is in College Station. But before we get to the Super 8 there's what needs to be covered before that.

301 Texas Avenue was originally A-1 Auto Parts when it opened in 1976, a NAPA parts dealership, but closed in the mid-1980s to be replaced with Brazos Valley Small Engine in spring 1986, which then became Aggie Solar Guard in 1989 (renamed to Ag Solar Guard by late 1990) but in 1993 it relocated to 3410 S. Texas Avenue. (More on that another time.)

But of course, before A-1 Auto Parts, one door down was a business originally home to Tastee-Freez. Tastee-Freez was here starting in 1957 to the early 1970s. Tastee-Freez counted about 1,800 units in the 1950s and 1960s but imploded as they couldn't control franchises. (Good luck finding a Tastee-Freez that's not part of a Wienerschnitzel or Original Hamburger Stand). Tastee-Freez (315 Texas Avenue S., but I have seen the address given as 209 originally) soon gave way to Discount Liquor No. 2 around 1971-1972, and by 1974 was home to The Grapevine (see this post). By 1977 The Grapevine had moved for The Senter-Piece (a floral shop). Despite this rapid changeover in tenants, the Tastee-Freez was still on many peoples' mind and the Grapevine mentioned it was in the former building. The Senter-Piece closed in 1981 and by 1983 it had given way to Brazos Valley Pools & Spas which seems to be unrelated to both a 1999 business off Highway 21 and the current (since 2008) Brazos Valley Pools & Spas mentioned when this site covered Barry Pool Company down near the end. A few years after that the pool company, it was campaign offices for Peter Geren's 1986 run for office, then became Discount Bike Company (also known as Discount Bike Repair) which operated from 1987 to 1993. (There isn't much on Discount Bike Company other than one ad at the very end selling Rollerblades). Discount Bike Company was the last tenant here, closing in 1993.

I've never been to the local Super 8 before, so I can't say much on it (looking around on the Internet it does say there are 89 rooms on three floors). It did receive a new logo after 2008 when then-parent company Wyndham Worldwide changed the logo...and sometime around 2024-2025 received red accents on the exterior.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Despite the recent slow-down in schedule there's more to check out! For example, we updated the Kettle article to account for the demise of Salad and Go, there's more beyond the limits of Brazos County at Numbered Exits and of course don't forget to donate on Ko-fi, we have a goal now!

Blinn Bryan Campus featuring Schulman 6

The full Blinn campus as of spring 2010, outlined in red-orange. College Park Center is the brown-roofed building toward the bottom specifically.
Class is back in session for the fall, so what better time to start this first week with a college-oriented post? I've briefly talked about the Blinn Bryan Campus in the past (particularly when it came to the shoddy offerings in the Student Center) but I wanted to give another overview with it. It's been a while since I last set foot in Blinn (not too many good things to say about it) but the first three buildings in the campus were dedicated in January 1997 with the others being filled out a few years afterward. The Taco Bell mentioned in the old thread did indeed operate in the Student Center building (that's the second from the left in the main campus, if you were looking at it from above) from approx. 2000-2003, though from 2010 to 2015 Maui Wowi set up a kiosk as well. The far left building housed the student center before it was bumped to the far building near the "College Park Center" campus...before that it was the administration building (back in the early 2010s)¹...and there was a strip mall before, notably housing DoubleDave's PizzaWorks (approx. 1998-2006)...and overall wasn't much to write home about (I took no pictures there, though I only had my crummy old cellphone camera back then).

The only real thing on campus of note was the "College Park Center" building, which was "connected" to campus by a 200-yard crosswalk through the parking lot. While I can't comment on the current Schulman's Movie Bowl Grille undergoing construction (or rather, lack thereof) at South College Avenue and Villa Maria Road, for decades the Schulman family operated theaters in Bryan. One of these was off East 29th Street. The Skyway Twin Drive-In opened in 1969 but closed around 1981, to be replaced by the Schulman 6 (which operated on a much smaller footprint) and opened January 1982, featuring the following movies: Modern Problems, Reds, Cinderella², Sharky's Machine, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. While these movies all appeared later than what is in other cities (a common problem in Bryan-College Station at the time), it appears that at some point Schulman 6 became a second-run movie house, though I can't tell when (another article mentions that Cinemark had some sort of exclusivity contract when it opened, so possibly around 1993). There were interesting parts found in research, like the murder of theater manager Don Cravens Jr. in November 1988 (found dead the next morning)³. In April 1997 it closed and reopened in September as College Park 6 featuring first run movies (the first movies were Deep Impact, Titanic, The Big Hit, Lost in Space, The Odd Couple II, and The Object of My Affection.

I saw a few movies at Schulman 6 (renamed College Park 6 in the late 1990s) before it closed less than five years later.⁴ I don't remember which movies I saw specifically here (as opposed to the Cinemark Hollywood USA theater), though I do remember I saw Dinosaur here.

After it closed, it was purchased by Blinn and renovated into classrooms, with the first classes held in summer 2003. The largest theater was turned into lecture halls (keeping the seats from the 1997 renovation, albeit cleaned and re-installed), with the others also being converted to classrooms. Later on, the projection rooms upstairs were turned into studios for art classes (at some point an elevator installed and some other changes to make it ADA-compliant, but it still felt cramped up there)⁵. For a brief time in the early 2010s a mural was painted outside but that disappeared after a year or two.

1. This is now the college bookstore. The administration moved out to the Tejas Center at some point around the late 2000s.
1. Before the Walt Disney Classics VHS releases (colloquially, the "Black Diamond" collection) and the "Disney Renaissance", Disney re-released its classic animated films (basically up to and including The Jungle Book) in theaters on a semi-regular basis, with Cinderella in particular getting re-released no less than five times.
2. The way the paper phrased it indicated it wasn't immediately obvious that he was murdered, and while it was officially a robbery, the fact that it also involved another man who was Cravens' old lover makes the details a little more sketchy.
3. I tried to find what the last movies shown by the theater were. The newspaper printed the movies for Cinemark but in the last weeks of College Park 6's operation, it just read to "call for showtimes".
4. Records show the elevator was installed in 2010.

Triangle Drive-In

Ironically, the "Charcoal Room" was not the one that burned down. I had to bump up the brightness a bit on this one. (Picture from author, 8/22).

I missed August 5th (sick all day) to make a new post and the next opportunity to fill in the "post in days not previously made" is September 21st. (Always next year).

As of this writing, Chicken Oil Company has reopened, but before I rewrite that post I wanted to talk about another building on the property but had a different address and different history, even if it was used as a "party room" for Chicken Oil Company in later days.

This link currently has a picture of the Triangle as it appeared in 1948 (if the link dies, search Project HOLD or its successors for "Triangle Drive-In; photos (Aug. 1948)" without quotes--that is, if Project HOLD isn't down itself, which it is as of this writing). Friend of the site "Bryan-College Station, Texas: Now and Then" explains some of the history here (archived link--Facebook not required). You can also see an early photo of the drive-in here at this YouTube video.

From what it looks like, when the Triangle Drive-In expanded in 1957 to the Charcoal Room, the awnings to that building disappeared and another structure was built to the south and assumed the address of 3606 South College Avenue. The 1940s building remained during all this time. In the mid-1960s Triangle closed and by late 1967 had become the Triangle Club, billed as a private club for teenagers. By 1969 this was replaced with a traditional venue, "The Traditions Candle-Light Club", later just shortened to the "Candle-Light Lounge", which closed in 1970 and replaced with Bottle Shop, another tavern. Over the years the "Charcoal Room" continued to serve as a rotating series of bars. At some point it was "Lou's 19th Hole" in the mid-1970s, then opened as "Sonny's" in 1978, "Crossroads" as of 1989 (specifically mentioning a benefit party for the Texas Hall of Fame, which had suffered a major fire—see this post). Meanwhile, the drive-in booths of Triangle were ultimately redeveloped into the new home of Tom's BBQ in the mid-1980s (currently J. Cody's) and the last business I can find it was Boozer's (operating from 1995 to 1997, replacing Crossroads).

In July of 2025, the building was unceremoniously demolished for parking for the new Chicken Oil Company to reopen in early August.

Former Zaxby's

This is not a great photo of the restaurant and more surprising that The Eagle still did blurbs like this as late as February 2017; albeit with no description.
Here's another vacant fast food restaurant that failed near Highway 6 and Highway 40 with questionable access, much like the old Bush's Chicken we covered a few months ago. Coincidentally, it also served fried chicken.

Where the old Zaxby's building is today (952 William D. Fitch Parkway) was originally the right of way of (Old) Arrington Road, before it was cut off circa 2013 and re-established about seven years later with a slightly modified right of way (Spice World Market sits on the re-established portion that was on the right of way).

Zaxby's (with a fully-functional weather vane on the store) operated from November 2016 to December 2024, but while Texas may be losing its taste for the chain¹ (a number have closed in the Houston area and others), highway access wasn't easy from either direction, nor was there good signage for it; it never graced the logo sign for the Highway 40 exit either.

1. The chain has since dropped the apostrophe.

Historic Tenants of 311 University Drive

1973 The Battalion; Grand Opening of Pizza Gallery
We're picking the blog up right back on Northgate. If you've followed us so far, we have covered every building on the north side of University Drive up to Duddley's Draw. Recently, we covered Cow Hop which had a picture of Duddley's Draw in it...and considering that the bar has been open since 1977 means there's not a lot of changes of hands going on. The oldest reference is Golden Cleaners in 1968, then Ralph's Pizza in 1971 (another location from Eastgate), then Pizza Gallery opening in 1973 but not making more than a few years after owner Ralph Segars liquidated the Ralph's Pizza chain (which had locations in San Marcos and Lubbock).

EDITOR'S NOTE: My goal since at least January 2021 was to fill in a post for every day so for Facebook I could always link back to something from exactly (x) years ago. I'm not sure what my end goal was (I think I had anticipated basically stopping and letting it coast for a while) but the idea still stands. While we're still missing dates, July 16th was one of them, so while this post looks a bit bare, it was because it was prepared ahead of time for times like this. And of course, that Ko-fi link is still there, let's get to $100 so we can have a full index of EVERY former business on the blog!

Pizza Hut in Bryan

Pizza Hut looked different back in 1966, for sure. (from the Eagle)
We've covered Pizza Hut before (both the classic University Drive East location and the short-lived Northgate proper location (see the older two posts) so here's a third location (and between the various carry-out locations, there's still room to grow). I submitted it on Used to Be a Pizza Hut (expecting it to be in the queue for months, but no, it's on there already). The Navasota store was featured over ten years ago on the site, and it's now a funeral home, too...possibly the first "Funeral Hut" covered.

The Bryan Pizza Hut operated from November 1966 (first Pizza Hut in the area) to sometime in 2002 (closed without replacement) and briefly served as Lone Star Pawn for a few years afterward before becoming Treviño-Smith Funeral Home in 2007.

What I can't figure out is what it looked like originally. 1966 is a bit young for the iconic red roof and Pizza Hut claims that it wasn't implemented until 1969, but the Wikipedia article indicates the first restaurant done was in 1963. Maybe it was indeed the first of its type in Texas.

Citgo Southwest Parkway

Picture from June 2025 by author On May 31st, I removed five pages from Carbon-izer.com: Southwest Parkway, Harvey Road, Texas Avenue - Bryan, Other Bryan Roads, and Wellborn Road (FM 2154). Since I covered Archie's Taco Bell recently, I thought it was only fair to cover some of the other roads that were removed, and today we're doing one of the things on Southwest Parkway that has curiously never been covered (other than in passing); the Citgo at 101 Southwest Parkway (not to be confused with the other Citgo on Southwest Parkway).

Directly at the northeast corner of Southwest Parkway and Wellborn, this was originally a Citgo/7-Eleven when it opened in June 1986 (7-Eleven stores, at least in this part of the country, were paired with Citgo gas). In 1993, 7-Eleven left the area but the stores (now under E-Z Mart) kept the Slurpee machines (later rebadged as ICEE), so this was the cold slush drink headquarters growing up. Unfortunately, the machines later broke down and the owners did not replace them, ending it as a place to get frozen Dr Peppers. In 2004, the store converted to Zip'N, and I remember when the store's name was a ground display surrounded by bushes (this was done away with in a station renovation). Later on, the gas station parking lot was integrated with Southwest Crossing around it.

The intersection has evolved--the once-quiet southeast corner has turned into not only parking lot access for a large apartment complex, but a number of other establishments (Starbucks, Chipotle, Whataburger, Wild Pita, and Andy's Frozen Custard), but the Citgo continues to age. While it's still technically signed as a Zip'N, there's a sign above it saying "Ricky Food Mart" or something along those lines, and it's a bit depressing to see a gas station once a family favorite for gasoline fall into disrepair, but that's life, I guess.

UPDATE 10-26-2025: This will be redeveloped as a new Layne's location in the near future. The new [endangered] label will be added to this post as a result.

Post Oak Village

A selection of Post Oak Village tenants from December 2007 including Fantasy Lingerie with a SFW outfit.

Much like covering Cow Hop the other day, it's time to examine another piece of a road that was covered heavily in the past—Harvey Road, this time Post Oak Village. You may remember back when I first posted Post Oak Square, I had mistakenly called it Post Oak Village. This is the real Post Oak Village (at 900 Harvey Road) and something that previously slipped through the cracks when I added a bunch of Harvey Road entries in late 2019. It was later posted on Carbon-izer before the whole Harvey Road section got broomed, so it's being reposted here with updates.

This shopping center opened circa 1984 and until 2012, the east end of the shopping center had a larger footprint to accommodate a larger end anchor. This was later reconfigured to be the same profile as the others in the strip. Originally, the center had about 17 suites numbered 1 (on the Dartmouth side) to 17 (on the mall side) but over the years the spaces have been reconfigured, so it's difficult to gauge the timeline over the years.

This is the current layout of the center, archived from this page at press time. There's unfortunately no tenants listed, but I'll try to list them below.

1. The biggest store, Giddy Up Glamour Boutique, open since 2015. The first store here was flooring chain Color Tile and from 1996 to 2007 was Catherine's, which in turn was replaced with "The Greek Boutique", which moved into the space, with store-within-a-store Old Army Spirit Co. opening soon after. (I'm not sure when The Greek Boutique closed.) Interestingly, GUGB also has the alt. address of 1903 Dartmouth.
2. This was most recently the home of 2014-2017's "Kie Men's Shop".
3. As of 2007 this space was a Sprint store but by the early 2010s it was divided between Cupcakes Couture and Mong Chon Korean Takeout. The latter used to just have a sign with some Korean characters and a red sign that said "Korean Takeout" (Mong Chon Korean Takeout), now it's known as "Mong Chon Grill" above a larger "Taste of Korea" sign. It has been here since 2009. About three or four years after Cupcakes Couture closed (around 2017), Mong Chon expanded.
4A. Fashion Nails & Spa. Despite the leasing plan using 4B, Fashion Nails & Spa uses "4A".
5A. U Paint-It has been here since 2004.
6. Domino's (an entirely new store, requiring redistricting from other stores) opened in early 2020 in what used to be Perrine Winery, which moved to Dowling Road in the mid-2010s. It also absorbs the space of 5B (ScentChips).
7. Edible Arrangements moved from 1505 University Drive East, suite 420, as seen (currently) at this page. The local store closed in 2024, a few years after the chain changed logos (goodbye, Papyrus!)
8. Pro Cleaners is on the sign but Google says its "Pro Eagle Cleaners". (As of 2007 that seems not to be the case, an advertisement just says "Dry Cleaners & Alterations").
9c. As of 2021 this was Eye Candy Salon but in 2022 had become All Star Fadez Barber Shop. (Eye Candy Salon goes back to the early 2010s at least). 9b. ProActive Chiropractic. Formerly home to Names & Numbers, and Aggieland Depot from 2004 to 2009.
9a. Sometime between 2017 and 2021 (not there in June 2017, closed by April 2021) was a Farmers Insurance office (Kathy Giese, main agent). Before that, it was last home to "World Finance Loans & Taxes". It was Fantasy Lingerie in the latter half of the 2000s, though wasn't related to an earlier Fantasy Lingerie in Westgate Center (on Wellborn).
10. There's no "suite 11" as some of the numbers have been reconfigured but it's likely this was the original Suite 11. This served as Tiki Tan from 2007 to 2019, and is currently vacant.
12. Post Oak Florist has been here since 1986, though seems to be calling themselves "Postoak Florist" these days (trying to de-associate from the mall?)
13. Board & Brush Creative Studio, a "DIY Wood Sign Workshop" chain opened a store in College Station in August 2018 (closed sometime in the early-to-mid 2020s). Before that, it was Tres Chic Boutique (store number two), whereever the first one was, roughly from 2012 to January 2018.
14. Yummi Yummi Mongolian Grill & Sushi is the last tenant before suite 17. Has been here since 2015. From 2006-2009 it was Let's Go Dreamin', a baby furniture store. It was nothing in the early 2010s except a temporary "Wicked Wally's" Halloween store.
17. Leslie's Pool Supplies opened in March 2012 after redevelopment of the plaza. Before redevelopment, the last tenant in 17 (though I've also seen 16) was The Exchange, a clothing reseller. Throughout the late 1990s and before its move to Lone Star Pavilion, this was Card & Party Factory.

Finally, I've got some cool news--the Post Oak Mall page on Carbon-izer is now up! You can see it at this this page (not at this blog). It's not 100% comprehensive with every single thing but it's a great page with lots of information.

Former Cow Hop

Putting things into perspective. 317 University is El Jefe in this shot. (March 2020, by author).
In our most recent excursion to the Northgate drag, we covered the areas to the east of this building (currently home to Freebirds as it has been for the last 30+ years) and to the west, currently Whisper Sister Shots. We've never covered 317 University in detail, though.

The oldest record I can find for the building is "Smittys Grill" at 317 Sulphur Springs Road, as University Drive was known back then, and by 1964 Lew-Ann's Restaurant (which made doughnuts in the morning) and per the Battalion it was still open by 1970, but by 1971 it was gone and to be replaced with another restaurant, The Burger Hut. (You can see a bit of Burger Hut in the background of this photo). Burger Hut sold out and in 1978 became one of Northgate's most fondly remembered defunct establishments, the Cow Hop. From a few articles the Eagle published, it opened under the ownership of Al Scazerro. It changed hands to Wes Gideon in 1985, and again to Jim McGuire in 1989 (even opening a second restaurant at Culpepper Plaza, the Cow Hop Junction). At some point it expanded to 319 University next door.

In 1993 it moved to a stand-alone location at 317 College Avenue and the combined spaces became The Bullseye, but by 1995 it had divorced from 319 University and became King of the Roadhouse (see 319 University article). A new "Cow Hop" opened in 1996 following the closure of the original restaurant and purchase of the name, but the "new" Cow Hop closed by 2001. Following this, it became a bar, Big Pauly's (full name of "Big Pauly's Garlic Room" in business records) but that was short-lived, with Mad Hatters opening in 2002 and operating until 2019 (longer than the Cow Hop had ever been there—if you don't count the revival). El Jefe (aka "El Jefe - the Tequila Boss") opened in the fall of that year but closed after spring 2023. Freaky Tiki opened in August of that year, and that's what it still is today.

Editor's Note: For a very long time there was a sidebar in this site that read: "This is a one person site and I make no money off of it. You can help by doing the following: Commenting! It's easy, it's free, and helps this site feels more lively. Share memories, ask questions, or just post something positive about the site. It will be approved shortly." It has been removed as I am changing the format slightly to allow actual donations through Ko-fi. It will be active through at least a trial run.

Max Food Mart at Deacon

The old frontage road right of way can clearly be seen. (Picture by author, June 2025).
Max Food Mart/Texaco at 3300 Texas Avenue South opened in 1996 (part of a small chain of convenience stores in the area).¹ I should note that as part of this post, originally, the frontage road in front of some of the businesses just north of here connected to the frontage road of Highway 6 South. Since the Highway 6 bypass was built in the 1970s, prior to around 2006, there was an intersection here with the southbound one-way traffic from the bypass intersecting with Deacon. To the south was Texas Avenue turning into an entrance for Highway 6 south with the northbound lane going from Highway 6. To the south at Deacon was a two-way frontage road that paralleled Texas Avenue up to Wal-Mart and became the southbound Highway 6 frontage road for the section south of Texas Avenue. Yes, for a time, you could drive straight from Nantucket Drive to the Wal-Mart parking lot and back without making a single turn or getting on the highway.

Around 2006, that all changed, and the set-up was altered. The road that paralleled Texas Avenue was cut off just past what was Petal Patch at the time, redirecting all traffic down an alleyway that had access to Pepper Tree Apartments (in the early 2020s these were fenced off) and Wings 'N More, with the two lanes from Texas Avenue went to the frontage road south (now all one-way) or the highway. As a kid, the frontage roads meant that we were getting close to the highway, and at that time if we were going that far it meant a trip out of town. Even into the early 2000s when there was commercial activity at Rock Prairie (most notably the Kroger shopping center) and Greens Prairie Road (the school, the McDonald's/Exxon), that was pretty much it, and nothing much until you got to Navasota.²

In any case, the other thing that made this Max Food Mart unique was a Subway counter inside the store, which remained up until 2010 when it was relocated to Tower Point. The space has been partially gutted for a beer cave but most of it just remains boarded up as a poorly-utilized backroom. The Max name had already been dropped by 2007 (and had converted to Shell from Texaco in 2003).³

1. I don't know what happened to Max, as late as around 2019 they built that new Chevron in Wellborn, but have since removed that branding. The only one I know of that still uses the name is the one at FM 2154 and Rock Prairie Road.
2. Some of this was taken from this post, though has been updated. As of this writing, that post is to receive a major re-do.
3. You may also remember that Max Food Mart had a deal with Krispy Kreme to provide donuts in their stores around 2003-2005. This stopped when franchisee Lone Star Doughnuts collapsed. More information on Houston Historic Retail.