505 University Drive East, For Lack of a Better Name

Picture from spring 2014 by author, artificially lightened up as the sun was setting.

Built in 1980, the 505 University Drive East shopping center at MacArthur and University Drive East essentially consists of two parts, a traditional shopping center up front, and some additional commercial suites in the back and renovated in the early 2020s. I don't have a full tenant list but I will italicize the things on the list that have since closed and as of October 2025 has everything that's in the 2023 Google Street View (also see Loopnet).

$1.79 Cleaners - Dry cleaners.
Capriotti's Sandwich Shop - Capriotti's opened in October 2022 at part of where Fox & Hound used to be. Cavalier Cigar Co. - This moved here around 2011 (from Texas Avenue Cigars near Park Place and Texas), features a humidor and lounge area. One of the few places in College Station to smoke indoors.
Charli - Women's clothing store; here since around 1997-1998. Their old location was 707 Texas Avenue, until part of the center was redeveloped for an On the Border restaurant.
CS Salon & Spa Suites - Rental space for small salon and spa businesses.
Frank's Bar and Grill - Steak and seafood restaurant in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Fox & Hound - From September 1994 to October 2018, this bar anchored the main spot of the shopping center. It replaced Frank's Bar and Grill, one of the early restaurants here.
Interurban - Restaurant in the 1980s that was here first, named after the interurban trolley that ran on what is now Cavitt between College Station and Bryan.


JwR's Clothing - JwR's Clothing opened around 2022. Mamaka - Also known as Mamaka Bowls, this opened in May 2022 as College Station's first açaí bowl shop.
Nick the Greek - This opened not long after the Southwest Crossing location and had shorter hours. As of October 2025 it is closed because of lack of staffing.
State Farm - State Farm has been here shortly after their old location at 300 University Drive East was torn down, but the agent here is Khalid Alrashed based out of Katy. Urban Cowgirl - This clothing shop opened in 2022 but is listed as "temporarily closed" as of October 2025 (these are usually permanent, but if something changes I'll fix it).
Vivint - Local offices for home security company Vivint. Opened in the early 2020s, I believe.

UPDATE 10-06-2025: After being neglected for some time, I made some updates to it, though my more ambitious update as planned in summer 2023 never made it off the drawing board. The original post of 2020 announced adding Columbia Closings, a site which despite a somewhat different format (and not even the same state, this time, Columbia, SC), is similar enough to this site and gives a good retail history of the area. It also has a healthy comments section. (I had desired a robust comments section, but it never caught on and eventually scrapped comments entirely).
UPDATE 10-12-2025: Capriotti's announced it will close before the end of the month.

Humpty Dumpty Children's Center

Requested by reader Jon Stewart (no, not that one) comes an ad for the late Humpty Dumpty Children's Center from 1980 (sourced from my GTE phone book from that year). Located at 3406 South College Avenue, I can't exactly tell when it went under, but it appears to have been sometime around 1986 (see later in the article). The plot of land it was on is shared with 3408 and 3404, the latter being in front of the store and serving as "The Guitar Studio" though is clearly a former gas station from a bygone era (this appears to date back to 1930 per county records). Additionally, some further reading indicates the Jones family lived at the site, with "3404A" being the address of one Larry Jones in 1980. Ms. Jones passed away in 2003 (combined with "since 1961" and "25 years", one can assume Humpty Dumpty closed in 1986) with Larry's death in 2009. For a brief time in the late 2000s and early 2010s, 3408 served as Brazos Valley Montessori, and presumably used 3406 as space. Interestingly, when the plot was sold in 2014 from the Jones family, the grantee (a shell company) was listed as "Humpty 3406 LLC", despite the fact that Humpty Dumpty had been gone for nearly 30 years. (current Street View)

Southwest Parkway Wendy's

Picture from August 2019
Despite my ambitions, the new "Return to Texas Avenue" series isn't going too well, partly since I already made many of the more interesting posts years ago, leaving a collection of odds and ends including photos from over five years ago. This is in contrast to the start of the Harvey Road series, in which all the photos were taken at the same time and in close succession, giving about half a dozen new posts clustered together with a bit of a story behind them.

The Wendy's on 202 Southwest Parkway East was built in 1984 after the previous Wendy's in town was opened (3216 Texas Avenue South in Bryan, which was built in 1978 but closed for the last 15 years or so) and I don't think this location ever had a salad bar, though I could be wrong. I don't remember one ever being there, and I don't think I ever (if rarely) ate here after a newer location opened much closer by to where I lived.

Additionally, the sign has the newer logo (which is not on the restaurant itself) partially due to the fact that a storm wrecked the old sign with the signage being replaced with the newer one.

Future attention on the blog will be paid to posts currently off the Index, which will return in updated forms.

Copy Corner and Company

Why is the building two-toned? It's a good question that won't be answered.
Across from Brazos Square is 2307 Texas Avenue. Built in the early 2000s, seemingly as a refuge for displaced Redmond Terrace tenants, it features a Kolache Rolf's, Copy Corner, and Texas AggieLand Bookstore. Not much has gone on here recently tenant-wise with the exception of Bike Barn, which opened in July 2015 after the bookstore closed about a year or two prior.

The three tenants also feature entrances to one another near the exits, so you could go from Kolache Rolf's over to Copy Corner (provided both were open at the same time) without leaving the building. Additionally, Copy Corner has an upper level, though it is just for employees.

Prior to the construction of the building there was a Quicker Sticker, which had been there since 1988, and sub-leased the building, with one such tenant being Home Brewers Supply (1994-1998). Behind it was a driveway that connected to Quicker Sticker also led out to about three houses beyond it (presumably with Texas Avenue addresses). The back part of this driveway continued to exist after the new building was built, but after the last house was torn down around 2015 most of the space was redeveloped as The Villaggio Condominiums, accessed from behind the Quality Suites and featuring Brentwood addresses.

Oddly enough, despite remembering a lot of Texas Avenue from New Main to Brothers in the late 1990s/early 2000s, I don't remember the Quicker Sticker at all.

UPDATE 01-01-2021: Made a small update where I accidentally put "brewing company" instead of the homebrew store that was there.
UPDATE 09-20-2021: Added name of said homebrew store, clarified regarding the townhomes. Further updates to this entry are coming.
UPDATE 02-18-2022: In December 2021, Bike Barn was acquired by Trek and rebranded.
UPDATE 07-08-2023: As of July 6, 2023 TexAgs has reported Kolache Rolf's has permanently closed.
UPDATE 02-01-2025: In late 2023 What's the Buzz Coffee opened What's the Buzz Bakery, which offers an expanded menu than what Rolf's had to offer and is open for lunch.