Wendy's on Texas Avenue

Picture by author, March 2025. The construction barrel in front contributed to WHY I could snap this picture from a (sort of) moving car.
Much like the other day, in the post "H-E-B Bryan Times Two", I referred to the "City Directory" of Carbon-izer.com and my efforts to phase it out (current version here, archived edition here). In this case, we're going back down on Texas Avenue to Wendy's, which the page puts as being open in 1977 (per tax filing) but it actually opened in 1978.

3216 South Texas Avenue was the address of the restaurant and it operated for thirty years at that location¹, as the number of Wendy's restaurants in the Bryan-College Station area grew to two (with the opening of the Southwest Parkway East location in 1984), three with the addition of their WJB store in 1998, and a fourth with the opening of the Holleman store in late 2004.

In 2005, Wendy's tied for third with Whataburger and Jack in the Box, with both of them being behind McDonald's and Sonic. Since the Whataburger practically across the street at the Tejas Center lines up fairly closely with the demise of this Wendy's (pulling them ahead to third place, meaning Wendy's was now tied to Jack in the Box for fourth by definition) and likely had a hand in their demise. Game over.

By summer 2009, the restaurant has been repainted red, yellow, and white as Loanstar Title Loans ("CASH LOANS ON CAR TITLES" in the front). Today in the local burger wars, Wendy's sits at just two restaurants locally behind Whataburger, Sonic, and McDonald's (the top three, in no particular order), with Jack in the Box and Burger King tied for fourth, a lousy sixth place showing. Do they deserve it? (Maybe—considering they haven't built a new one locally in over twenty years).

From the newspaper, June 28, 1978.²
It should be pointed out that although the mid-Bryan Texas Avenue fast foods all continue to thrive today to some extent. Maybe not "thrive" but the former Church's Chicken is still a restaurant, Jack in the Box is operating after a tear-down and rebuild, and work continues on Long John Silver's. All three of those sit at a stoplight with easy access. Now, sure, Mr. Hamburger is vacant (at a stoplight) and KFC still operates (but not at a stoplight); yet I can't help but thinking that the lack of access was a problem (even pre-medians). Wendy's had an access point to Doerge Street behind it but I guess that wasn't enough. I'm not sure about KFC, and especially with those medians it seems like it may be a tough sell. Heck, jumping over to the old Mr. Hamburger spot may be in their future.

Finally, I should mention that on a personal note, I don't remember ever going to this location; in fact I don't even really remember a Wendy's being there. I remember Church's and McDonald's and the KFC (pretty sure remember it when it had a bucket on the sign) but not Wendy's. Maybe I wasn't the only one...

UPDATE 05/04/2025: Added link back to the WJB Wendy's location as that has gone live now.

<sup>1. I'm not sure if had a salad bar at this location since I barely seem to remember it. You can see a great page for Wendy's (ignore the former restaurant portion, it will be gone after 3/31/2025 again) here at Carbon-izer.
2. Reading the full page requires a subscription. I only clipped the relevant part.</sup>

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.

Bush's Chicken at Tower Point

It certainly wasn't invisible from the highway but how did you get to it? (Google Maps Street View, c. 2018, with edits for brightness)
I've never covered Tower Point before, partly because it's a sprawling development (separated by a huge detention pond) rather than a cohesive shopping plaza, and mostly, hasn't seen many dramatic changes. Some spaces adjacent to H-E-B have gotten evicted for an expansion (might be worth covering that at some point) but the subject to cover is Bush's Chicken - Tower Point (4344 Highway 6 South). I've enjoyed Bush's Chicken in Waco-Temple-Killeen over the years (still do), but for whatever reason the local locations flopped.

Bush's Chicken operated from January 2016 to October 2017 (around the same time the Texas Avenue location closed).

After sitting vacant for nearly two years, the space was filled in with Conroe-based Pie in the Sky Pie Company, which tried its hand at a second location.¹ Unfortunately, PITSPC became another victim of COVID-19, closing permanently in October 2020.

After a more extensive renovation (mostly painting the building black and removing the drive-through), Le Petit Cochon² opened in November 2022. A French restaurant with decidedly fancier food (though still with a "casual restaurant" vibe), but just before its two-year anniversary (something neither Bush's Chicken nor PITSPC could manage) in August 2024, Le Petit Cochon rebranded itself as Napa Flats Bistro, a "French-inspired American Bistro".³ This French restaurant has some decidedly fancier food than either of the two spaces before it. As of August 2024, it's been open for close to two years, which is already something Pie in the Sky Pie Co. and Bush's Chicken couldn't manage.

When it was approaching its two-year point (something that neither Pie in the Sky or Bush's Chicken could manage), Le Petit Cochon rebranded as Napa Flats Bistro, calling itself a "French-inspired American Bistro".

Nearby: Spice World Market, The Sandstone Center, and Rock Prairie Crossing<sup>4

1. This was not PITSPC's first attempt at a second location. One had existed in Houston proper in the early 2010s.
2. Lit. "The Little Pig"
3. I don't remember the exact arrangement but it definitely was connected to Napa Flats' ownership in some way from day one.
4. Much like these footnotes introduced in the Texas Hall of Fame entry, this is a new feature I'm adding to new or significantly updated posts. It is all written manually.</sup>

Texas Hall of Fame and Rudder's Landing

I have no color pictures of the Texas Hall of Fame so here's some 1978 ads instead.
As I mentioned for what is now the post covering Foxhole Lounge, there used to be a whole post called "Stories of the West Loop" which was developed into other posts on this blog. That post also talked about the areas "beyond the border", the places where while they weren't technically far away from home, they were enough out of the way that I never saw them unless I was going on a bigger trip. Texas Hall of Fame, was of course, one of them.

Seeing as how most of the College Station-focused FM 2818 posts have been developed in some form or fashion, there needs to be more on Bryan specifically (and while Bryan content has increased in recent years--of the 110 posts from the 1/1/2020 post of O'Reilly Auto Parts Texas Avenue, College Station and 3/1/25's On the Border, nearly a third of them have been in Bryan, and I expect the trend to continue.

Most of what I could say about Texas Hall of Fame, the warehouse-like building that sat here since September 1978 and was another sight off of FM 2818/Harvey Mitchell Parkway when traveling that direction was written by The Eagle in 2003. If you still deign to give The Eagle your money you can see at the top of the page here. But I don't like broken pages and pop-ups, and neither should you, so here are the scans reproduced below.

This page is large. Click to see full size. Johnny Lyon, the sole owner of the club at the time, kept his promise—he kept the Hall alive as long as he lived....but in November 2010, Lyon passed away at the age of 73.

New ownership kept the Hall open for another year but in late December 2011, the Hall cancelled their New Years Eve events and closed permanently. The loss of the area's biggest (and most inclusive—the other dance halls catered exclusively to college students) was a mournful one, and the dance hall did not reopen (nor did a similar project announced in early 2012, the "College Station Hall of Fame", which was to be built somewhere in south College Station).

While the Hall was north of the Villa Maria/Harvey Mitchell Parkway intersection (it was north of where Panda Express is now with the address of 649 N. Harvey Mitchell Pkwy.¹, the whole thing was redeveloped as a strip center called Rudder's Landing, anchored by a new Walmart (Supercenter) which opened in March 2014.

I imagine the opening of the "west side Walmart" really cannibalized the recently-opened Townshire Walmart Neighborhood Market, but even with that the whole development was a bit anemic. Despite some plans with buildings on the north side (where the Texas Hall of Fame actually was), it remained little more than just the Walmart itself and a few smaller stores (most of the stores in the PDF in the smaller building joined in 2014-2015). Notably, Panda Express (639 North Harvey Mitchell Pkwy.) opened December 2014. Chick-fil-A joined in the early 2020s at 1542 West Villa Maria Road.

According to the most recent PDF (archived from here), the second phase of Rudder's Landing will not only incorporate the old Texas Hall of Fame space but Bryan Mobile Truck & Trailer Repair (at 683 North Harvey Mitchell Pkwy., former home of Bryan's Central Freight Lines terminal) would be torn down for Atwoods.

The PDF has several things that aren't there (yet) including the oil change place, Greater Texas Federal Credit Union (hope is dimming for that one as they gave up on their proposed Deacon/FM 2154 location amid rumors of heavy losses), and Dollar Tree. The Rapid Express Car Wash ended up opening as a Club Carwash by the time it opened in 2022², and the Subway in the shopping center moved there sometime around 2014 because of a claim of loss of business at the gas station location due to the Villa Maria/FM 2818 overpass.<sup>3

1. This only was bestowed around 1998-1999, I could find NO records of an address for them prior to this.
2. This was due to a buyout of the chain.
3. This is according to Centex Subway. Due to my experience in dealing with them I don't believe this to be the case as Popeyes continues to operate successfully, and during that timeframe there wasn't a new development that they didn't jump on. Keep in mind that there was ALREADY another Subway inside of the Walmart.</sup>