Taco Bell of 29th Street

I admit that this Taco Bell doesn't look distinctive. Picture by author, March 2026.
Two fast food restaurant posts in a row, yes! If you read the archives of this website, I've told you of the Arby's restaurant at Southwest Parkway. It remains the only Arby's restaurant in town though not too long after its opening, a second location would open in Bryan, with its grand opening set in September 1983. Unfortunately, this second location was not nearly as successful, as it was closed down just less than five years later.

In 1989 it became "Bless Your Heart" (a health food restaurant featuring whole-wheat bread sandwiches, frozen yogurt, salads, and soups). Sometime around 1992 or 1993 it was renamed to "D'Lite Bites" before closing in 1993 and reopening as Arby's sometime around August or September of that year. Perhaps Arby's could have a second chance in Bryan after all. Sadly it was not to be, and this second incarnation of Arby's was shorter lived than the first time around and in June 1996, it reopened as the area's newest Taco Bell...though not exactly, as it was actually a relocation of their first local store and has been there since. Obviously it's had some updates over the years (the exterior was redone in 2016, though the exterior already had Taco Bell's design), did the promotions, even did Taco Bell's breakfast menu for a while when it was introduced around the mid-2010s (this one did it until fall 2024)...but yes, other than that, just an ordinary Taco Bell.

Culpepper Plaza's Burger King

Burger King is no more, it's a Chick-fil-A now. (Picture by author, 3/26)
Recently I re-did Culpepper Plaza's article and in the process eliminated 1719 Texas Avenue South, Chick-fil-A, also formerly the site of a Burger King.

Our area has never been much for Burger King. Its first attempt was at 3807 S. Texas Avenue in Bryan back in '69, but it closed in 1977. In comparison, McDonald's first landed in 1973 and it's been expanding since. By 1985, there were four restaurants in operation, and in that year, Burger King decided to try again with another restaurant in Culpepper Plaza. I can't find exactly when it closed (I believe it was late 2006 but it might've been early 2007) there's a gap before the Texas Avenue and Deacon store opened, though it appears to line up with the East 29th and Villa Maria Road East store. Franchisee Shiloh Foods ultimately opened more two more Bryan stores (one of which folded within a few years of opening) before selling out in the early 2010s. I can't remember what the Burger King looked like, I do remember it had wood paneling on the outside but was not the common 2500 Model found in stores built in the 1990s. I've searched around in vain for a picture but you can just barely see it here without the modern paint (so a brown roof, and wood paneling on the right side). In spring 2008, Chick-fil-A replaced it, which at the time was a huge deal. There was only one stand-alone Chick-fil-A (in Bryan) and the only College Station stores was a popular outlet at Post Oak Mall and four "Express" locations on campus (most of which I've covered previously, Ag Café, the MSC, the Underground, and the Commons). Chick-fil-A is still there, of course, but in 2017 upgraded its drive-through (you couldn't park in front of the store anymore) before redoing it around 2023 to a new drive-through lane altogether.

NorthPark Center

I thought I had photos but I didn't, or can't find them. In lieu of that, this is from that PDF shown.
While we covered the pad site of this shopping center (currently Tim Hortons, but served as Bush's Chicken and Mr. Hamburger in the past), we haven't covered the actual NorthPark shopping center (not the one in Dallas) yet other than something I wrote on Carbon-izer (since removed). The plaza was built around 2007, and I've attached an out of date PDF (it's what I could find—archived from here. Around spring 2023 it was also repainted to white with the ends black. Keep in mind that this post has been sitting for a while in the "future posts" folder and it may be already out of date as of this writing. (In fact, there's a draft from 2014 for this one, but it never went anywhere).

The suite numbers go from north to south. First up is Little Tokyo (unrelated to the Post Oak Mall food court place that operated in the late 2000s and early 2010s. The Instagram page¹ shows that it sells a small selection of Japanese goods (not much that you can't find at H-E-B for a better price) and a menu featuring the box art of Cooking Mama: Cookstar². Previous tenants include Babylon Cafe (2014-2024)³, Habanero Mexican Grill & Bar (2010-2011, about six months), and Pyro (2008-2009), a "Mongolian fusion grill" restaurant. That first one closed not too long after the general manager stole thousands of dollars from the restaurant. Next up is suite 300 (no 200), La Riviera Restaurant & Bakery operated here from 2007 to 2017, an upscale New American cuisine restaurant. "Tap That Axe Bar & Grill"⁴, an axe-throwing facility/restaurant opened here in early 2020 but closed in 2021. Frida's Kitchen & Bar, a Mexican restaurant, has been here since early 2023. Suite 400 was originally ACE Cash Express and later Vapor Pursuit (as of 2018). Vapor Pursuit folded after a few years but in 2024 reopened as a second location of Tortilleria Mi Tierra. Suite 500 is Bryan's Red Wing Shoes has been here since 2007 (relocating from 3810 Texas Avenue).

Suite 550, however, has been more complicated. It was a franchise of Lenny's Sub Shop from 2008 to 2012 and closed after several changes of management. Around 2016 (if ther was anything in between, I missed it) it became Time for Thai, a spin-off of a fast food Thai restaurant in Houston, and that closed in 2020. In fall 2021, H&J's Tea House opened, the gimmick that they were the area's first and only cat café. A year in, however, the business was struggling financially and in early 2023 the restaurant closed and within a year or so was replaced with Koala Bakery & Cafe.

Suite 600 was Tejas Cuts was at suite 600 but only operated from 2007 to 2016 and as of this writing (1/2026) Starships and Dragons⁵, named after a similar establishment that operated in town years ago. Suite 650 is Heights Finance as of January 2026 and Covington Credit as of 2022. Sam Nails is at 700 as of 2022 (formerly Creative Nails), suite 750 is Direct Auto Insurance as of August 2025 (this was briefly Wild Side Smoke Shop in 2015, but I don't have any other information on former tenants), at suite 800 is Cindie's (link NSFW) out of Houston. This opened in March 2008 and nearly closed for violating an ordinance about sexually oriented business locating, but got away with it based on what percentage of the merchandise was sexually explicit or not. Finally, at suite 900 is Chubby's Public House. This opened in 2022, replacing Master Yakiniku (2016-2021?), Lanna Thai (2012-2015), and Teriyaki Park (2007-2011).

Additionally, there's a smaller building, 3600 Texas Avenue, at Dunn Street, has four smaller tenants. As of August 2022, these include Vape City (suite 100, All Phone Toys from 2006 to sometime in 2021), a vacancy at suite 200 (formerly Fred Loya Insurance, still here in April 2021 despite the reopening of the former RadioShack building at 614 East Villa Maria Road not far away), Easy Phone Repairs at suite 300, this was Jackson Hewitt from before 2007 to around 2015-2016, and Audible Hearing Centers in suite 400, opened in the mid-2010s.

1. Instagram won't work if you aren't logged in or (if you're like me) have a Tampermonkey script that will let you see everything.
2. You can't purchase this game anymore, as it was a digital game without a physical version. A dispute with Cooking Mama's IP holder meant that the game was pulled within two years of release. It didn't get good reviews, though. I don't think you're missing much.
3. Closed August 2024. In this post, I listed ten places that had gone under that year, and it mentions that there may have been more. Looks like I was right!
4. With a name like that, you'd think the waitresses would have something to show for it, but nope, just a bad pun.
5. It still lacks a sign...at least the last time I was in that area.

Editor's Note: Culpepper Plaza's article has gotten a major update with lots of former tenant information.

Kreuz Market

The best picture I could find was from Loopnet. Who knows how long the page is going to stay up?
Much like Hooters, Kreuz Market was one of the newer restaurants along North Earl Rudder Freeway that weren't able to make it even seven years. Kreuz Market, based out of Lockhart¹, opened February 2, 2015, connected to the parking lot of IHOP and Best Western. The restaurant opened with much fanfare, with trucking in coals from Lockhart...and decided not to have forks or sauce, as was the tradition in Lockhart. That wasn't well-received and changed a few months later (especially in terms of just having plasticware rather than a good knife²). Eventually, they franchised out the store and the Bryan location folded in September 2018. Twin Peaks later reopened the location in June 2021 (probably sooner if not for 2020). The idea of a spin-off restaurant in Bryan-College Station isn't new. After all, Royers' had long since come and gone.³ As of this writing, however, the chain's parent company, Twin Hospitality, has filed for bankruptcy, so its future is currently in doubt. We may have to come back around do an update on it being closed just like we had to do with Razzoo's.

1. See the Numbered Exits counterpart!
2. See Tom's BBQ and Steakhouse, specifically the "Tom's Famous Aggie Special" on the menu.
3. Other examples include Boomtown BBQ out of Beaumont (but the parent restaurant failed too), Mr. Hamburger, and Pie in the Sky Pie Company, the latter only applying if we don't count the Houston location that came and went before they opened here. Other than that I can't think of any other examples that are still around.