Orr's Food Center

This picture from Loopnet is the best picture I can find; unfortunately, it's the renovated version. It didn't use 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!

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.

The Veggie Garden

Advertisement for The Veggie Garden shortly after opening. (The Eagle).
The rapid clip of updates (at least once a week) of 2025 came to a screeching halt after the former Roy Rogers and I figured it was a good place to stop as I had been feeling burnout, in the meantime I continued on with updates when relevant.

One of the "hidden" pages of the site, the Comm. Building Permits College Station in the Late 1980s, mentions a business called "Veggie Garden". While I've long wondered where and what this was, it was the original tenant of 3122 Texas Avenue South, a garden center/specialty food store, with produce, meats, cheeses, gifts, and other plants. It unfortunately had a short life, opening in March 1987, turning into a full restaurant in September 1987 (salad bar and deli, though kept the produce sales) but closing in the fall of 1988. While it would never be a restaurant again, in 1990, it became the new home of Valley Cyclery, before moving in 2001 to 107 Walton, then became the third home of Petal Patch, a long-running local floral shop.

The former "The Veggie Garden" building has gone through tenants over the years. (Picture by author, June 2025).
I haven't talked much about Petal Patch but its relatively recent demise without much press and its long history deserves a mention. It opened as Petal Pushers in late 1975 but renamed to Petal Patch a year later at 707 Texas Avenue (it appears to have been because it was sold to a new owner, Pat Humphries). In 1992 it moved to 1919 Texas Avenue South (while the old location was reopened as another flower shop under the name "A Flower Cottage"). 1919 was where it would remain until until the early 2000s when it moved to this location. Around 2011, it moved out to Bryan where it would be for over a decade before winding down business in the early 2020s (at some point ownership had changed again).

Back at 3122 Texas Avenue South, since around 2012 it has been the home of Ashley & Company. Ashley & Company keeps a low profile these days—it's appointment only (and this seems to have happened before 2020, with the removal of the overhead sign around 2017). For what it's worth, an ad from 2011 (when it was empty) mentions the building had two floors.

Editor's Note: The Century Square article received a big update. Pooh's Park received a smaller one.

Updates to Jones Crossing

From the page linked below. It's been watermarked precisely because of reposting purposes. Something a bit different today—among the casualties in the most recent Carbon-izer rework was the FM 2154 page. It wasn't that well developed anyway, but it also included a fairly comprehensive look at Jones Crossing that I just can't recreate elsewhere. And with several places at Jones Crossing having gone out of business, I would need to cover that, wouldn't I?!

Based on the current analysis the page appears to date from 2021.

- I Heart Mac and Cheese closed both locations in February 2022 (which is mentioned on the Century Square page. The Jones Crossing store reopened in April of that year. The restaurant operated a few months more (it was open in August of that year) but it folded and was replaced with an AT&T store.
- In spring 2023, Urban Bird Hot Chicken opened to replace Zero Degrees.
- Just south of Chick-fil-A (instead of the strip mall depicted), a Taco Bell opened at 1696 Harvey Mitchell Pkwy. South on December 27th, 2024.
- Suite 800 at 11667 FM 2154 opened as Lucky Goat Coffee in May 2025. It is adjacent to a playground, which is owned and operated by the landlord, not the restaurant. At least kids don't have to play next to boarded-up windows now.
- In April 2021, Caprock Health System sold its two Urgent Care centers to Integrity Urgent Care (one of which being at Jones Crossing, the other at Century Square). In November 2024 Caprock went under entirely.

The website for Jones Crossing has gone under as of this writing, so please check back for updates.

UPDATE 07-30-2025: Due to the FM 2818 page going away soon, here's the information on Chick-fil-A: "This Chick-fil-A is part of the Jones Crossing development and opened in September 2019. Like Chick-fil-A restaurants built or remodeled in the last year it features a wooden table from A Better Way Ministries, and like all Chick-fil-A restaurants, is closed on Sunday."

Gizmo's Cafe & Bar

Doesn't sound like a bad place, but I like eating outside when the weather's nice, which sadly doesn't happen very often. (from InSite Magazine)
I've been unhappy with the post what was Boyett Street Businesses for a while now (see the archived original version¹), so I've decided to focus on 107 Boyett (one building) and checking on the history of that through Battalion archives. While I'm going to re-examine 103-105 Boyett in the near future (as of this writing--the new post will basically be a cleanup and update), it should be noted that 107 Boyett doesn't really exist...it's the "official" name of this building but no references to it exist only as either Boyett Properties or one (1) reference to a campaign office for George Boyett running as local Justice of the Peace. It has four addresses, including one for Patricia.

109 Boyett opened as sandwich shop New York Sub-Way in 1977 (no relation to the more famous Subway sandwich chain). In 1981 it changed hands to Aggieland Subway (again, no relation to Subway, and may have even been closed for a time). In 1985 it closed and became Gizmo's Cafe & Bar in the 1980s. I received a comment a number of years ago about this place: "I worked at Gizmo's in the late 80's as a server and bartender. It was a great little lunch place with good food. At night, it became the place where all of the Northgate bartenders and servers came to drink, as it was (notably at the time) the only place with a full liquor license on the Northgate strip. Fun times." Gizmo's also used the 111 Boyett space.

In 1990 Gizmo's closed and the space reopened as Spanky's in 1992, which operated until 1994. Paddock opened in 2005 as "Paddock Lane" (name change in the late 2010s). It appears it was vacant for all that time. 111 Boyett was Redbone Jeans in 1977 before disappearing by the end of 1978. It appears that New York Sub-Way took over the spot, and that would be permanent.

For 113 Boyett, first reference was Randy's Liquor in 1978 (#2) which became Coaches Liquor by 1981 (also #2, with "BJ's Package Store" between them in 1980). Later on, it became U.S. Marine Corps recruiters offices by the late 1990s and eventually became Pinky's New School Tattoos by the 2000s. It operated from 2005 to 2008 and was turned into The Tipsy Turtle, which opened in 2009. It may have been Marine recruitment offices from when the liquor store left in the mid-1980s to when the recruitment offices left for the mall in the 2000s.

The most interesting part of these stores is that they are, or were, an example of mixed-use construction. Above Paddock and Tipsy Turtle were some studio apartments, located at 214 Patricia. I'm not sure if these still function as apartments or not (and of course, the noise would be unbearable).

The studio apartments as of circa 2013 (picture by author).

1. As of this post's publication date both are the same. It is for future-proofing purposes.

Checkers, Revisited

It's not the greatest photo out there, but I tried. (Photo by author, 4/2025)
Happy Easter, or rather 4/20, depending on how you want to see it. We're taking a brief break from our Texas Avenue-themed locations for a bit (maybe, perhaps, longer). Much like how the recent Finfeather 7-Eleven post was a revised version of an old, removed post, you may remember me covering this (it wasn't your imagination, it was published in early 2013 per records but removed around 2019 because I wasn't happy with it).

Now sporting the address of 1103 Welsh Avenue, the "new" Checkers (opened April 2025 after being under construction for at least a year, the licensed "Big Madre" taco concept opening May) but I remember when the old Checkers, 604 Holleman, opened. Vaguely.

604 Holleman was first developed as commercial property in 1971 as a UtoteM, converted to Circle K in 1984, and closed in 1987¹. Additionally, next to the station (same building) at 606 Holleman², was Holik's Package Store and later Al's Washateria. From what I've been told and can piece together this was completely abandoned during the 1990s.

In 1997, the building was torn down for a new gas station and convenience store called Checkers. You can see what Checkers looked like on older Google Maps Street View images, though as a kid its unusual appearance for a gas station was puzzling, with an unused upper level. (I'm guessing it might've been intended to be leased as office space but never came to pass). Eventually, a stop sign was added at Welsh and Holleman by the early 2000s and ultimately (I want to say 2009) a full stoplight was added.

While there were few updates to the gas station over the years (the only thing notable was repainting the canopy from green to white, around 2011, then ultimately yellow), the gas station had a kitchen space and a number of fly-by-night operations operated there over the years, mostly Mexican and/or soul food. The only one I really remember was "El Taco Loco", which had an anthropomorphic hard taco with sunglasses, and in the 2010s had The Remnant from Nawlins, which was the ONLY space to ever graduate into a full restaurant (now at 1416 Groesbeck Street, which it's been since around 2016, give or take a year).

The Holik name seems to be connected to the former owner of a house at 614 Holleman demolished in the second redevelopment when the original Checkers was closed and demolished around 2023, I remember passing the house by glowing mercury vapor lamp to the west side of the house, and was part of the same property. It finally went away in the redevelopment. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the old property but here's the Google Street View of 604 Holleman.

UPDATE 05-04-2025: Clarified a few things regarding Aggieland Food Mart and its non-open status, as well as making a bit more clear that the 1997 redevelopment was redeveloped completely again.

<sup>1. Tax records indicate it would reopen as "Aggieland Food Mart" soon after, but this appears to have not been the case. Want ads mention "I have the building, just need $ for stock". The tax record expired a year later.
2. Also known as 604-B Holleman.</sup>

Weiner's Bryan

From July 9, 1972. The "North Bryan Shopping Center" was never built; Weiner's was besides itself.
As part of a bigger project that is involving breaking down/updating the Texas Avenue page on my other website, Carbon-izer as well as adding some much-needed Bryan entries to the site, comes another entry, Weiner's, at 1520 N. Texas Avenue. We briefly mentioned Weiner's in the Culpepper Plaza page, but the Houston-based discount apparel store existed from 1972 to the chain's bankruptcy in 2001, with not even Weinerman able to save the store chain from its demise.

Best Pawn quickly picked it up and opened in 2002. By that time, there was more commercial development in the area, with H-E-B Pantry catty-corner (well, hidden behind on Old Hearne Road anyway) and the AppleTree-anchored Culpepper North. Best Pawn also had a long run (not quite as long as Weiner's) and operated until September 1, 2021. After a full renovation of the building, Poco Loco Supermercado opened in July 2023, though it doesn't have a fuel station component.

Finfeather's 7-Eleven

It wasn't too long before this 2005 picture that the gas station was conveniently located. (source). I fixed it up from Newspapers.com so it looked a little nicer.
One of the posts that was added in 2010 (March 2, 2010; there were originally far more posts from 2010 and 2011 than the current Index would suggest) focused on the north end of Wellborn Road and Finfeather. Today, we're re-visiting that (a post resurrection of sorts—parts of this post are fifteen years old!) by examining a former 7-Eleven at that corner.

In the mid-to-late 1970s Villa Maria Road was extended from Texas Avenue all the way out to FM 2818, creating two stoplights, one at Finfeather and the other at the extension of Wellborn Road from F&B Road. In the days when pre-bankruptcy Southland Corporation was first on the scene with new 7-Eleven stores/Citgo gas stations on the fringes on the development, a store opened up at Finfeather and West Villa Maria Road in 1978 (3300 Finfeather Road). In 1993 it became E-Z Mart due to Southland selling off hundreds of stores across different markets. (In Houston, the stores had already been sold off to National Convenience Stores, aka Stop 'n Go; in Waco, the stores were sold to Circle K; it really depended on the market).

Despite the fact that going to Bryan more often than not meant a visit to the pediatric dentist, I always liked the intersection growing up. Maybe it was because it was unique among the other crossings on Wellborn Road that Wellborn dipped below the railroad grade by up to sixteen feet before they came together again at the light, maybe it was the fact that both signals would go down even if it was only one train on the track (for safety reasons, obviously, even though it wasn't a true "two-track" crossing), maybe it was the fact that one track curved and one didn't.



The intersection as it was c. early 2004. Click to see full resolution.
The underpass construction officially started in late 2004 (though the real construction began in 2005); around this time the convenience store converted to "E-Z For You" (as I mentioned before here). By late 2010 the intersection was complete and the gas station, rather than closing, converted its signage to electronic. I think by that time it also changed over to an Exxon. Sometime between 2016 and 2018 the "fake" E-Z Mart was rebranded as "Just 4 You", a completely different logo but still keeping the old orange-and-green theme. No doubt that the station suffered due to the construction but the apartment communities along Finfeather kept it in business, but if the gas station did poorly following its complete cut-off from Villa Maria, the shop portion facing the Villa Maria side did even worse.

Casey's Wash House was one of the oldest tenants I can find in the space, but it appears to be built at the same time as the main store. Other tenants that have come and go included The Fishman (fish market, 1990s), Omar's Upholstery (early 2000s), and a few barber shops. (It appears that there is a hair salon in the spot as of this writing).

H-E-B Bryan Times Two

The new H-E-B opened before the old one was torn down (Google Earth 2011)
Having covered both the H-E-B Pantry at Holleman and near Townshire, it's time to cover the third and final H-E-B Pantry in town...the North Bryan location. And, because of its same lot, by extension, the H-E-B that replaced it. (It's part of a broader plan to phase out the "City Directory" page on Carbon-izer).¹

While H-E-B built a new building in 1991 at 1905 Old Hearne Road, the address was previously used as "Pots of Pride" (florist) and later New Beginnings (hair salon) until around 1990, with H-E-B Pantry opening October 16, 1991. H-E-B Pantry remained nearly twenty years in the spot², though at some point rebranded to simply "H-E-B" as the company sought to eliminate the Pantry brand. By 2009, with a brand-new H-E-B to open at Tower Point and its two sister Pantry stores replaced with larger versions, work began on a new H-E-B store to replace it, almost immediately behind it.

When H-E-B opened store #644 in mid-2011, the store was three times the one it replaced (around 80,000 square feet vs. 24,000 square feet) but it was smaller and more downmarket than the other H-E-B stores. In addition to a pharmacy, a bakery, and a deli (well, "deli" by H-E-B standards anyway—they slice meat and cheese to order), it featured H-E-B's "Flaming Bird" roasted chicken concept. The larger store replaced several smaller businesses at that corner, including Sharp Propane (1609 N. Texas Avenue), Longhorn Tavern (1900 Highway 21 E.) when it was at that location from 1988 to 2009, and 1908 Highway 21 East, a car dealership, holding Atlas Motors as one of its last tenants (previously several names, including M & M Auto Sales in the mid-2000s) and Douglass Nissan Used Car Center in the late 1990s.

The address of 1601 North Texas Avenue is used for the smaller shops next to the store (attached to the building as a strip mall portion). From the H-E-B toward Brazos Valley Community Church on Highway 21 there's Fade Masters Barber Studio (formerly the spot of 4.0 Cuts, changed hands to current name between 2022 and 2025 but opened sometime in the late 2010s, a space that used to have Papa John's Pizza (it did not have the traditional logo of the chain and ended up closing after two robberies in a single day (the employees all quit), closing in early 2014. A few years later, it reopened but never gained any traction and closed for good), Safari Dental & Orthodontics (since 2011, occupies two separate storefronts), T-Mobile (opened between 2018 and 2021) and Jackson Hewitt Tax Service (at least since 2012).

As for the old H-E-B Pantry building, it was soon demolished for additional parking and an H-E-B Fuel/car wash center.

<sup>1. Archived here. Note that a number of entries are outdated and have newer/updated posts here including Mr. Hamburger, Fat Burger, Fargo's Pit BBQ, Kettle, Planet K, and Long John Silver's...among others.
2. According to the previously referenced BTU article, the store looked almost identical to the 2031 South Texas Avenue store. It was also technically signed as "H-E-B Pantry" rather than "H-E-B Pantry Foods". For more information on H-E-B Pantry Foods, please see this link.</sup>

UPDATE 05-30-2025: This ad for Zip'N shows that there was a Shell/Zip'N at the 1615 N. Texas Avenue address. It appears it was demolished for the H-E-B Pantry (just north of the current parking lot access from Texas Avenue).
UPDATE 06-08-2025: As the removal plan has been consummated the link has been removed.

Winn-Dixie on 29th Street

Winn-Dixie with prominent "Marketplace" signage, unknown date. Courtesy Michael Gomez (used with permission) Twenty years ago today (February 21, 2005), Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. declared bankruptcy. When I started writing this post back in January, it appeared to be heading toward an ignominious end under parent company Aldi. Earlier this month, though, C&S Wholesale Grocers purchased 170 stores (including Harveys, as well as some associated liquor stores) with the associated trademarks from Aldi Süd. Still, with 170 stores spread across five states and C&S's incredibly bad track record at "rescuing" chains (one reason why the courts X'd their purchase of Albertsons/Kroger cast-offs), the future still looks quite dim.

In better days, however, Winn-Dixie had locations spread across much of the Southeastern United States (with about 1,000 stores in 1999) and that included two locations in the area, and was part of several other major regional and national chains for what was a very small market in the early 1990s, with the chain, along with AppleTree, Randalls, Albertsons, Kroger, and H-E-B Pantry participating. (One article I have when the College Station location closed mentioned it was probably the most grocery store square footage to capita market in the country).

Despite the closure of the relatively short-lived College Station store and spending much of the 1990s sandwiched halfway between AppleTree and Randall's (later Albertsons), it still operated until the chain departed Texas for good in 2002.

Opened in May 1985, the 45,000 square feet store offered the typical supermarket features of the time including a "New York-style delicatessen and bakery". The paper also mentioned a "prestige meat" department, that was what Winn-Dixie called its meat department in those days and I imagine the inside of the Bryan store looked much the same way. This anchored the new Carter Creek Shopping Center.

Unfortunately, by the late 1990s, Winn-Dixie's problems were apparent through the company. Already by 1996, with their competition locally (Kroger, Albertsons, AppleTree, and H-E-B Pantry) having two or more stores compared to Winn-Dixie's one, no stores in any of the major Texas cities except for Dallas-Fort Worth (and at least in 5th place behind Kroger, Tom Thumb, Albertsons, and Minyard) and Waco-Temple-Killeen, Winn-Dixie seemed to finally catch a break in 1999 as they hammered out a deal with Kroger where they would offload the entire Texas Division to Kroger for an undisclosed price (rumored to be $350M), pending FTC approval.

This would allow Kroger entrance to Oklahoma (where it had no stores and still doesn't), Waco-Temple-Killeen, a few smaller markets, and give Kroger four local stores by the end of the 2000, with their new Rock Prairie "Signature" store, their existing College Station store, and their existing Bryan store. Unfortunately for both parties, the FTC did not approve (even though it was trivial compared to the later Albertsons/Kroger merger later attempted (which still failed) with the deal now dead, Kroger walked away. Instead, in 2002, Winn-Dixie simply shut down the division. Brookshire picked up a small number of stores, Kroger picked up even less, but the majority of the stores simply closed.

That of course left Carter Creek Shopping Center without an anchor tenant. The store's address, 4001 E. 29th Street, was shared with the whole shopping center, so it's hard to find much information on other tenants and gain a clear picture of what was going on. Personally, I don't remember much of the center and I don't think it was ever well-populated, but from 2001 to 2012 a location of Tuesday Morning was located here, before it relocated to Post Oak Square. There were a few others (Career Apparel, Amish Furniture for Generations). By early 2004, Workforce Solutions had moved into the former Winn-Dixie (new address--3991 E. 29th Street) and other government offices moved in soon after.

There were/are other tenants in the shopping center as well. There are two buildings near the light at Carter Creek Parkway, one of which holds Pride Cleaners (Pride 1 Hr. Cleaners until the late 2000s/early 2010s). There was a Dollar General at suite 102 from 1993 to 2007, a DoubleDave's Pizzaworks from 1986 to at least 2001 (one of the early locations), and a restaurant, Wokamole Healthy Cuisine has somehow hung on for ten years at suite 106 (opened late 2014). The restaurant originally opened as a hybrid Chinese/Mexican restaurant (it replaced another Mexican restaurant called El Gallito de Jalisco, and the spot had been mostly restaurants going back years) though within a year the Mexican menu was dropped entirely.

UPDATE 03-30-2025: This was actually one of the first Winn-Dixie Marketplaces in the chain. (The third, actually). See the Sing Oil Blog post. It went up a few days after mine but contained some inaccuracies (particularly about Kroger's aborted buyout) but it's been ironed out with some features shared.
UPDATE 07-29-2025: 2001 Dining Guide puts DoubleDave's still here in 2001.

Original Location of McCoy's

From The Eagle (2000), source described below.
Pretty much every post in the last twelve months has been a restaurant of some sort and the last three, seafood restaurant, University Drive East restaurant, seafood restaurant ON University Drive...it's put me in a mood to find something that is not, in fact, a restaurant, but something I could work with. An idea came up to do Texas Hall of Fame, but to cover that would be covering Rudder's Landing, which would have, you guessed it, restaurants. The challenge was no restaurants, nothing on Texas Avenue (there's been a LOT of that).

After thinking about it for a few minutes, I came up with an answer. The original McCoy's Building Supply location! Now, it still exists at Boonville Road where it has been since the mid-1990s or so, but the location just south of Briarcrest is what I remember from the early days. Open from 1983 to mid-1996 when it moved (probably one of my earliest "closed store" memories, after Kmart and Winn-Dixie, but before Piknik Pantry with its Chinese food.

In 1997, Office Furniture USA opened. This new and used office furniture store was initially part of local company Engineering and Office Supply. In 2000, this was purchased by Wilton's OfficeWorks. I'm not sure what the original sign said, there were articles from 1997 about it being called Office Furniture USA but in 2000 a new sign was installed that would be the main facade for the next thirteen years. Apparently, part of the lumberyard area McCoy's used to use is/was subleased as RV and boat storage but I can't confirm that.

The current address is 141 N. Earl Rudder Freeway, the pre-1999 address was 3220 S. East Bypass.

Former Cycles Etc.

The building for Insomnia is quite old... (Picture by author, 4/24) There's a lot of posts about Texas Avenue (74 and counting), but University Drive (not even counting University Drive East) takes a solid second place, and today the focus is on 505 University Drive, not to be confused with 505 University Drive East.

Located just to the east of what is now Aggieland Credit Union, this is currently home to Insomnia Cookies, which opened in 2021.

As usual, I try to focus on what used to be there.

Check out this 1954 advertisement from The Battalion!
The building started out as Student Co-op in 1931 as a bookstore with a radio repair shop inside. In 1944 Ed Garner took it over, added a sporting goods department, expanded the radio repair shop (which now serviced televisions). At some point it was retooled into Garner's Sporting Goods.

In 1972 purchased by Ted Wyatt, renaming to Wyatt's Sporting Goods. Wyatt's Sporting Goods was here until 1988 and had three stores in town at its peak (Culpepper Plaza, Manor East Mall, and here). It was a locally owned store and unrelated to the late Wyatt's Cafeteria.

After the nearly sixty-year old store closed, the next few decades would see it used as a bicycle shop. First was Cycle Spectrum from 1993 to 2002, then Bicycle Station was here from 2002 to 2003, with Cycles Etc. being here from 2003 to 2013 (moving from 104 College Main) and later moved to College Station Business Center in an attempt, I suppose, to get out of the student bicycle business (they closed in 2021). Before they moved I was a frequent shopper of Cycles Etc., but it was annoying that the sidewalk in front of the store was about a foot above the rest of the sidewalk, making it harder to even bring in a bicycle into the shop. (This was one objective improvement of the big University Drive pedestrian improvement re-do, I suppose).

After that it served as a leasing office for The Domain and in 2019, briefly served as Aggieland Phone Repair (already boarded up and for lease before the campus closure in March 2020). After that it became Insomnia Cookies.

Former Student Korner

The twilight somewhat reflects the mystery and fly-by-night nature of the tenants here. (Photo from September 2020).
Once again, this is somewhat built out of an older post that I began writing in October 2020. The building dates back to 1972, with the original main tenant being Spin-N-Market, with one location at 1802 Welch (as Welsh was called back then) and the other at 502 Harvey Road.

It was rebranded as Korner Pantry (this was store #21), a Houston-based convenience store in the early 1980s, but that convenience store disappeared by the mid-1980s (as per Houston newspapers) and instead became a generic convenience store known as Student Korner. (It may have even closed briefly, given the lack of a listing in a 1984 phone book).

It was open as of 2003 but at some point around 2005 quietly folded, even though the Student Korner sign by the road remained. In the early 2010s, it was "Determined Faith Christian Center", which gutted the space and added some curtains and carpet, but only remained a few years. In the year 2016 (closed by very early 2017), it was Cachet Liquor Store. You can see that despite lacking any formal signage, an "Open" and "ATM" signs are there, as well as what looks like reflections of fixtures inside.

In late 2020, I wanted to take a daytime photo with some interior shots but was thwarted somewhat by a new tenant there, BetaMed, focused on mobility-focused medical equipment. The store was stocked but not much had gone in the way of décor, with the flooring being bare concrete showing the scars of Student Korner's tiles and the glue from DFCC's carpet. However, as of January 2022, BetaMed already seems to have passed on from this world given how the name (it was never on the building itself, just the window) and the building seems empty.

Next to it, in the same building, Coco Loco has been operating since August 2004. I was told that the Coco Loco was some sort of hole-in-the-wall Greek restaurant prior to Coco Loco, but I can't find anything on it. However, it was "Bombay Restaurant" in the year 1994.

UPDATE 12-01-2022: As of late 2022, Brew Supply Haus has moved here from College Station Business Center.

The 700 University Drive East Club

One of the buildings here as it appeared in March 2020, showing the scars of both Blockbuster and Genghis Grill.
There's a few reasons why this site has been a bit slow to update as of late, partly it's a lack of photo availability, partly a lack of running out of places to cover, and partly it's a focus on new projects that take priority. The most recent entry, Saenz Tamales, was fairly spur-of-the-moment, and I had gotten my photos, then actually wrote up the entry. Otherwise, I have a bunch of mostly written-out descriptions that lack photos, and many of those just end up on my other website.

700 University Drive East is a bit of a complicated property, as it contains a strip mall and two stand-alone buildings, hence, the name of this post (and a play on words for a show contractually airing on Freeform, much to the executive's chagrin).

The first building here we'll take a look at is Golden Corral (store #540), which hasn't changed tenants since it opened in 1991 and...I'm ashamed to admit this, but at one time in the distant past, it was not only a favored family spot but one of my top five favorite restaurants in town. I don't know when we stopped going, probably sometime around or before 2005. The only big change that I can remember from Golden Corral growing up is the elimination of smoking inside the restaurant, so we could sit anywhere, not just the non-smoking section. In 2018 the restaurant closed for an interior renovation to a newer, more open prototype, and the exterior got an update as well.

Golden Corral as it appeared in 2014, looking east.
Across from the Golden Corral is the second building here, and a more interesting one. In 1992, Blockbuster Video, as it was known at the time, rolled into town, choosing 700B University Drive as its first location in town, located next to Golden Corral, and would continue to grow across the United States. As the company's fortunes declined in the late 2000s due to a variety of factors (streaming, recession, unable to support the massive store base that previous owner Viacom had built up), the store was rebranded as "Blockbuster Outlet Store" (whatever that meant, really) and closed around January 2010. Within months, it was announced that a location of Genghis Grill would be taking up residence in the spot, and it opened in late fall 2010, though it didn't take up all of the space, the remaining portion of Blockbuster was taken up by Tutti Frutti, a chain frozen yogurt restaurant the next year.

Looking into the closed Genghis Grill, 3/20.
Around December 2012, Tutti Frutti closed (it may have lasted into January or February of the following year) but something new was coming...in Houston, Big Daddy Z's began to make the rounds of Houston's many food trucks, focusing on Cajun cuisine. This would be the start of what was to replace Tutti Frutti in the future.

Following the closure of Tutti Frutti, the next restaurant, Mickey's Sliders, opened in summer 2013. This restaurant focused on the "gourmet slider" trend, much like how Stover Bros. Cafe was doing around the same time in Bryan. Mickey's Sliders surprisingly did a decent business, but the owner retired in fall 2017 and closed the store.

During all this time, Big Daddy Z's would move to College Station and soon restructure the menu to focus on cheesesteaks, with a new name...Blake's Steaks. Blake's Steaks settled into a new permanent home in December 2017 in the former Mickey's Sliders space and for the next two years, cheesesteaks and other related sandwiches (including some sandwiches that were created by customers in a contest) were served. In February 2020, Blake's Steaks closed to focus on a new venture, Zeitman's Grocery, in downtown Bryan (due to COVID-19, Zeitman's ended up opening almost two years later). Around the same time, Genghis Grill, which had been struggling due to inconsistent service and quality, also permanently shuttered. So by the time things started to go wrong for restaurants about a month later, the building was vacant, and that's when the first set of pictures were taken.

The building has since been renovated, sub-dividing Genghis Grill into two new spaces (the three spaces are about equally-sized), suite B of which became The Toasted Yolk Cafe, which opened in September 2021. A month later, Suite C (the former Tutti Frutti/Mickey's Sliders/Blake's Steaks) opened as Naq's Halal Food. As of this writing, Suite A is still vacant.

Another thing I wanted to note is that originally, this post was supposed to go up in conjunction with something I wrote for Carbon-izer, in which I stated that I was disappointed with Genghis Grill compared to a restaurant I ate at in Austin about six years prior to Genghis' opening.

Wing Stop and Marco's Pizza (June 2020).
Next to Blockbuster, in 1996, a Little Caesars was built. It never really gained traction and closed after a few years. Wing Stop would take up residence in the space (since 2001), but that was only half of the building, with the other half becoming Marco's Pizza, open in early 2020. I can't tell or remember what was there before that, but I want to say there was a small barbershop.

The main strip center isn't very active. (June 2020)
The rest of the strip center, 700 University Drive East was built in 1984 and is a pretty sleepy center that really hasn't seen a lot of activity and I don't personally remember many interesting stores or services being here. I did assemble a partial list of some of the tenants that came and went, but few lasted for many years and were forgotten soon after. (If you want to try to take a look at them, view the source for the page). One of the bigger tenants here was University Book Store (University Book Store Inc.) in suite 100 before all locations closed in very early 2006. That space would become Fast Eddie's Billiards for almost the next decade, and is currently a similar business named Four Downs Sports Bar.

Obviously, there have been some changes to the center since I took some of the pictures here back in 2020, with Toasted Yolk and Naq's Halal open and drawing crowds. One last look is going to be the "new" Golden Corral from the opposite side, also taken in March 2020. (All the photos in this post were taken by the author).

Note the Blake's Steaks food truck. (3/20)
Even if "new" posts to this site will be light in the future, I invite you to my other ventures including Carbon-izer, which updates monthly.

UPDATE 07-14-2023: Naq's Halal Foods closed around the end of December 2022 or very early January 2023. In May 2023, Siam Iyara opened in the spot. (Also removed YouTube shilling, as I'm afraid that's on hiatus...)
UPDATE 07-21-2023: TexAgs has reported Marco's Pizza is now closed.

Spice World Market

There's a big Starbucks sign inside for what is essentially a Starbucks-branded Keurig machine inside. (Photo by author, 9/2021).
One more entry before I take a break for a little while (see Editor's Note at the bottom), Spice World Market opened in July 2021 at 1381 Old Arrington Road. It's an Indian grocery store at 9,000 square feet, which is much larger than any Indian food-focused store in town. Previously, the places that specialized in Indian food mostly just had some items crammed in the back of a convenience store, but this one is in a nice, new space with even a bakery that churns out fresh naan (which I have yet to see, it runs out by 5pm).

Spice World is located on 1381 Old Arrington Road, located behind the main Caprock Crossing development, and has been in planning for a long time. I first saw the signs for Spice World Market ("Coming Soon") in March 2019, en route to the Ground Shuttle terminal further down when picking up my cousin at the terminal for a wedding (the trip to the terminal was not as exciting as childhood trips all the way to downtown Bryan's old Greyhound station, but it was easier to get to). Funnily enough, the section of Old Arrington Road did not exist for a brief time in the 2000s. When Highway 40 opened, (Old) Arrington Road intersected with Highway 40 just before Highway 6 (complete with a left turn lane from Highway 40), with the newer section of Arrington Road accessible further down solely to provide access to Greens Prairie Road West. By 2008, the section closer to the highway was officially Old Arrington Road, while the intersection further west curled down to connect to the main road. A few years later, the pavement was removed on Old Arrington near the highway and closed off.

By fall 2014, the space was being redeveloped as Caprock Crossing, with Walgreens being built, and a Zaxby's later built on the right of way itself. Old Arrington was on its way to be forgotten and built over completely, like North Graham Road. However, unlike North Graham Road, in 2017 or 2018, the cul-de-sac at the end of Old Arrington (the truncation point), was removed, and a new concrete driveway connected it to the Caprock Crossing entryway, which provided access to Zaxby's, Walgreens, and others. It was on this rebuilt portion that Spice World opened.

Editor's Note: So the blog will be going a bit quiet again. Probably not "no posts until 2022" but likely not for another month or two until I can build some posts and content. Unlike in August 2020, when I ran aground, this is going to at least end on a high note. If you exclusively read this blog via Facebook (not recommended!) this notice may be out of date anyway, as I have more than enough Facebook stuff stored up to sail through this gap.