You may recall when I tried to add my big Texas Avenue page (from Carbon-izer) to the site, all the stuff that wasn't on the site and some that never will, before finding out the hard way about Blogger and maximum labels, creating two awkward non-canon posts (as of this writing, subject to change): "The Texas Avenue Page - The Brands" and Texas Avenue - Place Categories" and neither of them even had [texas avenue] as a label!
Instead, I've decided to use this as a placeholder label.
* Texas Avenue (two locations)1
* Earl Rudder Freeway (one location)
* FM 60 (one location)
* FM 1179 (one location)
1. The second location listed on the page should go live November 1st
Showing posts with label FM 60. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FM 60. Show all posts
Sunday, October 11, 2026
Monday, September 21, 2026
Remedies
Even today, there's almost no restaurants west of Harvey Mitchell Parkway and north of Dowling Road (where Harvey Mitchell Parkway goes to an east-west road). There's Gate 12 near Easterwood Airport...the Stella Hotel restaurant...Poché's Seafood...the fast food places near the West Bryan Walmart, and in 1996 all of those did not exist. That was the year Remedies opened at 4660 Raymond Stotzer Parkway in a converted house (originally built in 1965), just about a quarter mile to the east where The Country Kitchen once operated. (For several years, I thought that the locations of the two were one and the same, when I started working on the post for The Country Kitchen, that was what I had in mind). Despite its obscurity, Remedies operated as late as 2004. It would make occasional appearances in the Eagle's Dining Guide, health reports, and in reports of private meetings not open to the public. The fact that it was reservations only suggests that it was never open unless there were reservations and it was weekends at best. A Practical Guide to Bryan-College Station (Second Edition) describes it as this, and perhaps the best description other what the dining guide gave ("Small, intimate fine dining served in a European manner. Their specialties are special tenderloin cuts of all meats").
The area's most exclusive restaurant requires reservations – one to two weeks in advance is recommended. With steaks and seafood prepared for taste as well as show, this five-course experience provides a night to remember.
But between the fact that it was so exclusive, and the fact that it was in a rather isolated part of town, not many people even knew about it when it was open.
In 2006, Lin's TV & VCR Service (later Lin's TV & Appliance) moved to the location from College Station Business Center and operated there until around the end of the decade when it moved to Bryan. After that, at some point was renovated into a traditional residential house (three bedrooms and two bathrooms), though Zillow lists both 4660 and 4660B (one of these seems to be the old commercial component), though both of these look to be the same.
Editor's Note: There's a whole lot of stuff I've done since we last met, including a huge update to the Northpoint Crossing article (Learn about the former Circle K! See what we found out about that 1940s building! Discover how the Dutch Kettle and the Kettle are related!), some updates to various commercial developments McDonald's & Blockbuster also got its first update in a decade.
But there's more "in network" to see. Numbered Exits has gotten several new posts, though most of them tend to be recycled content that has previously appeared on Carbon-izer before (except Loews Midtown Motor Inn). Tennis World, profiled over at The Houston Files is brand new.
Sunday, July 12, 2026
Before Sabi Boutique
Haven't really posted a "real" post in a while, and recently it's the first time I've been skipping months since 2023 (when I wasn't in the area at the time). I guess I just lost interest. You can only do so much if you're not making any money off of something. But I haven't abandoned this blog, just switched focus to places like Houston (and those entries don't typically have photos). I had also wanted to continue the "post on days I didn't already have posts on" project but another opportunity won't come until August 5th.
When working on an updated version of my FM 60 page for Carbon-izer (Version 5.2 here until August 1st, Version 6.0 here after August 1st) I came across 520 University Drive East and decided that there was enough information on it and that it was an interesting enough subject to do a full post on it.
The current tenant at 502 University Drive East, Sabi Boutique, opened in spring 2019 shortly after opening a second location at Century Square (this one replaced the Holleman Drive East location).
Originally, this was an office building that was first the home of a podiatrist (feet) by Dr. J.P. Beal, DPM, and soon became the home of the local Protective Life Insurance Company. (A 1974 directory lists the aformentioned Dr. Jacob B. Beal Jr. and Protective Life Insurance Company, as well as Farmers Insurance Company and Charles E. Thomas & Associates, which was the official name of the Protective agency). In 1982, Shellenberger's moved in as a second location from Townshire Center. In 1993 (by this time the Townshire location was gone) it was renamed as "The Suit Club at Shellenberger's" (advertising only—it only had "The Suit Club" on the sign outside) until closure in 2008. This 2008 article sheds a bit more light on the subject, The Suit Club wasn't exclusive to the area, it was a co-op with other independent menswear stores, though by 2008 this one was the only one left.
By January 2009, there were "two stores under one roof", Lew's Mens Wear, a store that replaced The Suit Club after it liquidated (there was a gap of about a month) and Sprout, a clothing store that was a spin-off of Old Bryan Marketplace.
Next from what I can tell, Harley's of Tyler purchased Lew's and converted it to their name in 2012, booting out Sprout in the process. This closed in December 2018.
I do have one more announcement to make: I will be permanently removing the post on T.G.I. Friday's (seen here, originally posted February 8, 2025). Like many of the posts from a decade ago, it doesn't really meet the same quality standards and without even a good picture, can't really be grandfathered in. (The only way it could remotely work is if I went by and grabbed a picture as the existing Willie's, which is kind of missing the point, or sullying the quality of my site with a Google Street View image...and I'm already annoyed with how poor quality the Rockfish Seafood Grill article is. In any case, effectively we're trading Sabi Boutique with Carbon-izer in exchange for T.G.I. Friday's. It was not a decision I took lightly, I don't really remove posts anymore.
Thursday, May 7, 2026
404 University Center
Well, it happened again, the rate of posts was completely unsustainable for the last three months (certainly not worth the effort I put into them) and I crashed out. (See Editor's Note). Today we're doing 404 University Center, with the last of the pictures I used from the summer 2014 set. The rest of the photos are below.
The center was built in 1980 and this article mentions that there were additional warehouses behind the center that were intended for tenants but I'm not sure if that's still the case now.
The problem is, without a main anchor, the center is just a bunch of little smaller tenants that have moved in and out over the years. Some of the first tenants included Conway's (moved from Downtown Bryan)1, The Loading Zone restaurant, Italian restaurant Cenare (which operated up until March 2019), Harold's (at suite A), and Kelly's Toylane (moving from Townshire), DeAngelos (a gourmet food store with wines, meats, and cheeses, similar to Ira's).
It would be difficult to go over the full history of this center when places entered and exited, but Cashion-Cane (aka Cashion-Cane/The Christmas Store) moved here in the late 1980s from 504 Harvey Road. If it was originally a year-round Christmas store it wasn't by the late 1980s, and while it had a big seasonal influence it was mostly the "gift" department featuring silver, bridal china, stationary, and collectibles (see clipping). This occupied suite D before disappearing sometime around the mid-1990s. Suite A is currently (as of 2026 and since 2011) Thorn Music Center. In the late 1990s they opened Scott & White Pharmacy here, a S&W-owned pharmacy (not much in the way of other non-medical items) before moving it to 1100 Earl Rudder Freeway next to their clinic.2 By 2000 it was already the home of Wiggles & Wags, a dog grooming boutique which later moved to Bryan.
404 University Drive East (Partial Update Shown) There was a TCBY location from at least 1991 to 2005. There are other defunct tenants I dug up in trying to find stuff, there was a storefront for McCaw Cablevision in the mid-1980s3 and a locally-owned sandwich shop called Deb's Deli (owned by one Debbie Sherman), and numerous others.
Going around the shopping center as of 2022 (not much has changed since that time), apart from the aforementioned Thorn Music Center, we have Brazos Coin & Jewelry (B, still there), Fast Signs (C, still there), Century 21 (D, extra offices), a vacancy at E (last home to Nit Not (2018), lice clinic), Vixen (F, still there...we're moving onto the next building now), Attitude Dance Boutique (G), Myra's Custom Framing (GG), and Century 21 (H, main storefront).
The last building a bit strange, Anytime Fitness (I'm not sure if it moved from Tower Point, as one used to be next to the H-E-B there, if it moved from Southwest Crossing, or a new operation altogether) replaced Cenare/Mr. G's Pizzeria. Cenare was an Italian restaurant (one of the first-generation tenants, as mentioned above) and in 1997 went under the same ownership of Mr. G's Pizzeria in Bryan, and in 2007 the restaurant was expanded with a full Mr. G's addition. There was a full storefront (I believe I took suite Y), though the restaurants were connected together on the inside. At some point they disconnected, the Mr. G's signage was removed from the pizza side and the doors were moved to the main entrance before closing in 2019. Chef Cao's at Suite Z opened around 2004.
1. Their old address was 103 N. Main Street, for future reference.
2. This closed around the late 2010s.
3. McCaw sold its cable business a few years later (ultimately, it fell to Suddenlink/Optimum) in order to focus on the burgeoning cellular phone industry. McCaw's ultimate fate was being sold to AT&T ("Ma Bell") in 1994, which they already had a part ownership in, and ultimately forming the foundation for the modern AT&T Mobility we know today.
UPDATE 07-23-2026: Mild rework by adding a paragraph of the existing tenants (which added a few tenants I didn't previously talk about, plus elaborating on Cenare a bit). One unnecessary footnote has been removed, as well as the Editor's Note, which apologizes for burnout and outlines future plans.
Sunday, March 22, 2026
Days Inn on University Drive East
I did want to cover this one as it's part of dismantling the FM 60 page on Carbon-izer, and while I find hotels interesting, there's not a lot to say about this one. 901 University Drive East has been Days Inn by Wyndham College Station University Drive since December 2016. It has been associated with Best Western for most of its existence. From what I can tell it opened in 1983 as The Inn at Chimney Hill (back when Best Western was more an affiliation and not a brand)1 and while it did have an unbranded in-house restaurant serving Chinese food2. In 1986 it was foreclosed on, with the paper3 noting the University Drive East/Tarrow area was hit hardest by the recession. In 1988, the restaurant area was retooled again as Crepe Myrtle Bar (with "fine spirits and authentic country food"). Things didn't change much at the hotel, it was still a Best Western into 2005, though by 2007 it had lost that branding (just The Inn at Chimney Hill) and in January 2008 was rebranded as a Travelodge under then-owner Rossco Holdings (the old Holiday Inn/Forum reopened as such around the same time). By the early 2010s it took the EconoLodge name, by 2015 was branded as "Executive Inn & Suites" and as previously mentioned became Days Inn after that. 1. As a general rule, even up until around the mid-2010s, the "real" name of the hotel was below the Best Western sign.
2. The Chinese restaurant concept was changed by 1984, ads stopped talking about "authentic Chinese food" and starting talking about "now serving Omaha steaks".
3. "Hotel, shopping center posted for foreclosure". 7/29/86, The Eagle.
UPDATE 06-05-2026: TexAgs mentioned this as of late May I believe but the hotel is no longer a Days Inn and now the Days Inn signs are used to read "Howdy Hotel". See, this is why I saved Days Inn's photo...I have a feeling it won't be there much longer.
UPDATE 07-10-2026: Removed mention of Buffalo Wild Wings and Comfort Suites as they will remain on this page.
UPDATE 10-07-2026: Updated link above.
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
980 University Drive East
We've covered the restaurants around the fountain (except for Blue Baker/Atami, which are still their charter tenants from almost twenty years ago)—Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy (now Casa Mangiare), the building that once held Veritas Wine & Bistro, Ben & Jerry's, and It's a Grind (and their successor restaurants), and what was, until recently, Razzoo's Cajun Cafe...plus, the stand-alone restaurant east of it, the old TGI Friday's. Beyond that is 980 University Drive East.
It featured four spaces, with 980A (instead of 100), suite 200, suite 300, and suite 400, and as of 2025 there are two vacant spaces, though most of them have operated in the last twenty years. The first space was originally home to Pei Wei Asian Diner, a fast-casual concept owned by P.F. Chang's China Bistro, operating from late 2005 to August 2019 (Pei Wei closed a bunch of restaurants during this time, likely stemming from being spun off from P.F. Chang's). In late 2021, The Cookshack, a restaurant serving Nashville hot chicken, opened, but it too closed as of November 2025 (seems the whole chain imploded, at least partially). Suite 200 has SportClips (the first local location) since around 2005, nothing dramatic there, suite 300 had Jamba Juice, which closed in November 2023 (I don't think it ever got the new "Jamba" branding).1 It is still vacant to my knowledge. Suite 400 opened in 2007 (maybe early 2008) as Eccell Steakhouse, a new concept by Eccell Group, before it closed in 2010 and became Bodega Coast, a seafood restaurant, trading in the Cafe Eccell-inspired menu for the nearby La Bodega, and that lasted six months before another concept, Knockouts Grill House (I think it was a sports bar) came. By January 2012 it was closed and a few months later, Grub Burger Bar opened. Grub Burger Bar was a relatively successful concept and opened a number of locations all the way to the East Coast, and by the time it was acquired by Hopdoddy in 2018, had 18 locations (several had closed in 2020). Grub doesn't exist as a chain anymore...Hopdoddy rebranded them and probably would've done the same here as it already had a location at Century Square about a mile or so to the west.
What does the future hold for this site? Prognosis isn't looking good, it's 20+ years old, half-vacant, and Hopdoddy is probably letting Grub Burger Bar run down its lease2. This may end up being the first true redeveloped building on the strip, even if many of the restaurants in the center are second-generation.
1. Jamba Juice wasn't new to the area, not exactly. In 1999, they purchased the Zuka Juice chain, which had two locations, one of them part of the Exxon center at Welsh and FM 2818, the other near Best Buy and Office Depot, but these closed in 2001.
2. The other possibility is that it's Century Square they don't want to renew on, and will close down Grub for a new Hopdoddy location. Either way, Grub's future is looking dim.
UPDATE 07-10-2026: Karma Kolache opened in March 2026.
Friday, January 23, 2026
O'Reilly Auto Parts on University Drive East
As per standards made in fall 2021, the last time we covered O'Reilly Auto Parts it wouldn't count, but this one does. Opened in 1973 as Hi-Lo Auto Supply #34 (later branded as later branded as Hi/LO Auto Parts), this1 became the first O'Reilly Auto Parts store in College Station (there was also a Bryan store) when O'Reilly bought the chain in 1998, adding around 182 stores to its repertoire2. (O'Reilly certainly grew faster than Hi/LO did...in 1975 O'Reilly had just 7 stores compared to the 34 or so Hi-Lo had, by 1998 they had over 250 stores.
O'Reilly's website includes a picture of a typical Hi/LO store and it is what College Station's store looked similar to. Within a few years of the purchase, it had O'Reilly's branding and color scheme, and remained that way until 2016 when O'Reilly modified the facade to remove the large mansard awning.
1. Located at 210 University Drive East.
2. Hi/LO had 189 stores, but they sold the seven stores in California to Carquest of California, as O'Reilly didn't have any West Coast stores at the time.
Editor's Note: We (the royal we) have been hard at work updating some of the older posts on this site. Most recently (and most importantly), the articles for Former Fitzwilly's and Campus Theater have been upgraded. Nothing too groundbreaking...but perhaps you could throw in something for the site's future development?
Friday, December 26, 2025
Chipotle on University
As I mentioned in a recent post, most of the University Drive part of the FM 60 page has been covered (very unlikely A&M United Methodist Church will be discussed—churches only get on here usually due to special circumstances). Only 815 University Drive has not been covered yet. While the address hosts a Chipotle today, it replaced a gas station that was a "garage"-style gas station, with a full service auto repair center (mechanics, state inspections) but not so much a convenience store (not that Northgate was lacking in convenience stores). The earliest reference I can find was in 1959 for University Mobil at 815 Sulphur Springs Road. The station changed hands a few times (but remained a Mobil) before finally being closed as late as 2002, at which point it was torn down for a Chipotle Mexican Grill. It was perhaps fitting that Chipotle was next to McDonald's as McDonald's corporate owned some 90% of Chipotle at the time, though by the time the College Station store opened in 2003 McDonald's was re-thinking that strategy and by 2006 had sold it off entirely. It retained its original facade until around 2024-2025 when it was changed to reflect Chipotle's current design standards (and the 2009 logo).
Anyway, much like we did last year and the year before that this is the last post of the year. This year, we spiked at over 43k visitors in a single month (August), the busiest time ever (usually this site averages 5000, which jumped up from 2000 a few years ago). Oddly, despite 10k in September, the site cratered to less than 1000 in October, numbers so badly that they haven't been seen since 2011.
As far as top posts go, Former Fitzwilly's takes the #1 spot (it was #3 last year). Skipping sub-pages (the Post Oak Mall sub-pages don't count, though no doubt they were bolstered by the big Post Oak Mall page I made on Carbon-izer), Manor East Mall will take the #2 spot despite the page needing a major rewrite. Going down the list, newcomer Blinn Bryan Campus featuring Schulman 6 takes #3...though I have a feeling that people found it through searches for Blinn and not because of the movie theater. Campus Theater took #4 and Café Eccell's Former Domain takes #5.
This year, more Bryan posts than ever were produced. Of the (numbers from 11/9 here) 50 posts produced this year, almost half were in Bryan. The long gap between the last post and this one proves I can't consistently month after month keep producing content, but that's not what this blog is for. I don't know if I'll be living in the area a year from now. There were times I weren't or got burned out. It's unlikely I'll hit 50+ posts in a year anytime soon, possibly ever, and with 52 posts it's second only to 2013. I'd also like to take the time to share my own personal top five posts, that I think you should check out, with the top 5 starting with my 5th favorite.
5. Wendy's Tiger Town. Wendy's served nachos and pitas in addition to hamburgers, and the signage is still original.
4. Post Oak Village had a spread of several stores, and it hosted a few chain stores over the years, including Color Tile and Catherine's.
3. The Veggie Garden was fun to research. It was a long-standing mystery and while I think that the location is underused, I've always had a bit of an affinity for buildings in that stretch (Barry Pool Co., Sunset Gardens).
2. Finfeather's 7-Eleven. This post allowed me to take another look at the crossing at Villa Maria and Wellborn Road. The underpass is much nicer in many aspects (unless you really wanted to access Finfeather from Villa Maria, and vice versa), but I still sort of miss the old crossing.
1. Winn-Dixie on 29th Street: This post celebrates the other Winn-Dixie and a 20th anniversary of the bankruptcy. It was even a bit brighter than originally planned as investors and C&S Wholesale Grocers had bought the company back from Aldi, sparing it from complete destruction.
Several posts also got significant updates...Krispy Kreme of course burned down but updates to the article talks about Grandy's in more detail. I updated 110 College Main with more former tenants as well as adding a new page to Post Oak Mall to discuss all that in more detail. Boyett Businesses was retooled as a new post with some new tenants unearthed. The Lost Buildings of Villa Maria Road and Texas Avenue also had substantial updates added to it with information on El Caribe and Pizza Inn.
The only bummer is that my Ko-fi was a bit of a bust, but if you could throw in a few bucks...
We'll be back next year, returning January 7th.
Saturday, October 18, 2025
The Country Kitchen
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).
Footnotes for this article are below.
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.
Sunday, October 12, 2025
Former Boston's The Gourmet Pizza
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.
UPDATE 01-01-2026: On December 29, 2025, Razzoo's Inc. was acquired by M Crowd Restaurant Group (owner of Mi Cocina...no, not the ones here locally) and while they moved forward with 11 restaurants, nine of them weren't, including (according to online sources), Burleson, Far North Dallas, Garland, Irving, Lewisville, Lubbock, Spring, Tyler, and College Station. These restaurants were shut down immediately.
Friday, October 3, 2025
Aggieland Outfitters on University Drive East
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.
UPDATE 06-26-2026: Renamed post to "Aggieland Outfitters on University Drive East" so it makes more sense with the other store. Added [Aggieland Outfitters] as part of the change.
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
University Book Store on Northgate
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.
UPDATE 09-09-2026: As of September 2026, the old Starbucks space is now a leasing office for the new apartment building "Honcho" at 250 Church Avenue.
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Former Cow Hop
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.
UPDATE 12-15-2025: Freaky Tiki closed around press time. In September 2025 Chubbie's on Northgate (unrelated to Chubby's Public House off Texas Avenue) opened in the spot.
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.
Sunday, January 19, 2025
Rockfish Seafood Grill
Having added both new and retroactively a new tag for posts, "Death by Fire" covering the likes of Sunset Gardens, Olive Garden, Krispy Kreme, and a few others, there's another addition to that, Rockfish Seafood Grill. Rockfish technically didn't close because of fire, but it did burn down.
In any case, Rockfish Seafood Grill opened in December 2001 at 1611 University Drive East as the tenth restaurant in the Dallas-based chain. There wasn't an official review for the restaurant, only a blurb about its opening, though a now-defunct website gave a review as an advertisement. (That would be a good strategy for this site....if The Eagle wasn't virtually defunct). In the summer of 2005, Rockfish closed and was quickly sold to the franchisee of Cheddar's Casual Cafe next door to open as Fish Daddy's Grill House, a new seafood concept owned by the corporate parent of Cheddar's, which had two other locations.
During renovations, the building caught fire and was instead torn down to the foundation and rebuilt, opening sometime around spring 2006. Since then, Fish Daddy's disconnected from the Cheddar's chain (probably around the time they were bought by Darden); the Austin location became "FD's Grill House" and Tulsa's location has a substantially different menu than the College Station location.
Editor's Note: In addition to the newer articles, several older articles have gotten significant updates. Check out Ardan Catalog Showroom / Rolling Thunder / Gattiland / Thunder Elite / Planet Fitness, Putt-Putt Golf & Games, and Former Taco Cabana.
Saturday, January 11, 2025
Changing Faces at University Town Center
I've written about some of this initially in some capacity on Carbon-izer (in fact, some of this is taken from that page) and wanted to discuss some of what has gone on at "University Town Center", the circa 2006 development near Tarrow Street East and University Drive East. Already we've discussed the old Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy (now Casa Mangiare); now it's time to look at the next building at the "Fountain Plaza", 830 University Drive East, which is now fully vacant. Sôlt occupied suite 400 and takes up half of the space. It opened as Veritas Wine & Bistro in January 2007 and adopted its current name in 2020 after a closure and menu revamp (same ownership) before permanently closing in November 2024 following the end of the lease. The other half of the building has been vacant for a longer time. This last operated as Boneheads, a restaurant that specialized in grilled fish, Piri-Piri Chicken, and rice. It was good but never seemed busy and operated from November 2013 to summer 2016. They had other locations in Georgia, but the last one closed in January 2019. Boneheads itself occupied two older sites, a Ben & Jerry's (suite 200) that operated from January 2007 to November 2011, and It's a Grind (ste. 100), a coffeeshop at suite 100 that operated during the same timeframe.
UPDATE 10-03-2025: In February 2025, Zake Noodle House opened in the spot. The last paragraph discussing the changes at posts has been removed.
UPDATE 07-10-2026: Should note that Zake Noodle House is in the old Boneheads, not Sôlt which still has the signage up. In the early 2020s the building (with the rest) was repainted gray.
Wednesday, November 6, 2024
Texas AggieLand Bookstore, Freebirds, and Wells Fargo
321 University Drive: Charlie's Grocery was here since at least 1965 up to 1987. Wells Fargo opened in 2001...probably not the same footprint.
323 University Drive: Advertisement for Grand Opening of The Varsity Shop in 1975, no other reliable references found. In February 1976 it moved to 301 Patricia.
325 University Drive: Jeans 'n Things opened in April 1971 and disappeared sometime after December 1972. Heroes Clothing Co. opened August 1973 and by the late 1970s briefly the home of Loupot's before moving next door.
327 University Drive: Texas Aggie Book Store opened in 1969, making it one of the city's oldest businesses. Since around 2006 it has been Texas Aggieland Book Store (related to a crackdown on TAMU trademarks). Sometime around 2023-2024 it became TXAG Store since it wasn't really a "bookstore" anymore.
I've put the build date as [1950s] but that's subject to change.
UPDATE 06-12-2025: Wells Fargo closed in April of this year but there's a new location at Century Square.
UPDATE 09-09-2026: As of September 2026, the old Wells Fargo space is now a leasing office for the new apartment building "Ever" at 321 Stasney.
Friday, April 26, 2024
Former Cycles Etc.
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.
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.
Friday, September 22, 2023
Former FedEx Office
When I originally wrote this post in September 2023, I had very little to go on in terms of the recently-vacated FedEx Office's history (and half the post was an apology to why the site hadn't been updated recently, complete with recent updates to show proof of work), but that's no longer the case.
The story of 509 University Drive goes back to 1972, when it was Cooley's Conoco Service Station. While it appears that there was an older building on site from aerials, this too appears to be Cooley's Conoco as newspaper records go back to 1957. I'm guessing the station was rebuilt around the late 1960s (which gives us the date of [1960s] for this post), but it's possible it was the early 1970s.
As of 1978 it was University Tire & Service Center and they moved out in the summer of 1980 (to 3818 S. College). by January 1982 it was Alfredo's Tacos Al Carbon. At some point they started advertising more menu items (including Papa's Pizza, a restaurant-within-a-restaurant), culminating at a point in 1985 where they were advertising as "Alfredo's / Papa's Pizza" and serving up hamburgers, fried chicken, and pizza. This disappeared around 1985 in favor of "Rita Street" by November 1986 ("Cajun Cookin' at its Best"), and by January 1987 it was Rocco's nightclub and restaurant (either Rita Street was short-lived or it was retooled). There was one reference to "Gringos" in 1988 (no, not the chain restaurant in Tower Point...and indications are Gringos was one of the shortest-lived restaurants in College Station operating for less than a month, though CALZ may have broken that record), and finally Kinko's in 1989 when it moved from 201 College Main. While it left an unused concrete pad in front of the store (likely used for outdoor dining at one time), it was extremely successful in the spot. Partly due to the business model and partly to the needs of Texas A&M University, this was open 24 hours a day (this wasn't even the case before 2020, and operated during only during normal working days). It was open 24H in 1999, and I'm not sure when it stopped doing so, likely changing under its new owner FedEx, which bought Kinko's and around 2004 converted the chain to "FedEx Kinko's". Sometime after 2008, this became simply FedEx Office. I'm not exactly sure when the changeover was, it seemed to happen gradually. Over at Columbia Closings, a site similar in scope to this one, theirs converted in mid-2010. Around early 2022, FedEx packed and moved to 711 University Drive East.
Since then, a restaurant/bar called Aki Sushi has been promised per filings but nothing has since come to the space (nothing on the exterior, anyway).
UPDATE 08-31-2026: Integrated the August 2024 post into the post as it was rewritten.
Wednesday, November 30, 2022
K-Bob's Steakhouse
The last time I ate at this restaurant was back sometime around the early/mid-2000s when it was T-Bone Jones. It was a good steakhouse while it lasted and it was a pick of my parents for date night. It closed in 2005 for a few reasons, the first reason was that when University Drive East was rebuilt in the late 1990s (six lanes out to the freeway), the construction required a retaining wall to be built, and as a result the restaurant was almost a full floor below the road level with limited visibility and access. The second reason was that with the early 2000s came a new slew of restaurants in the same corridor, with Cheddar's Casual Cafe, Rockfish Grill, Texas Roadhouse, and later the new location of Wings 'N More taking up residence, all with much better visibility and access. Lastly, and probably not an immediate factor of its decline (but compounded problems), but as the restaurant lost popularity, the dining room looked big and empty. There's a reason why restaurants, especially chain ones, try to separate out dining areas...
While 809 University Drive consists of a number of smaller office suites, the building in the front (and the only one with a silver-colored roof as opposed to copper) has been restaurants (suite 100A, though not always used). The most recent one is Paolo's Italian Kitchen, as previously mentioned. Previous tenants of the restaurant portion) included Rooster's Country Dinner House (2012-2013, failed in less than six months), Sodolak's Beefmasters (2010-2012, see our previous post that does briefly mention their attempt here), T-Bone Jones (1994-2005), Armando's Border Grill (1992-1993), Santa Fe Steakhouse (1990-1992), and K-Bob's Steakhouse (1986-1990).
You'll notice there is a gap after T-Bone Jones, it did sit empty for a few years.
I'm not going to list the tenants in the office complex, it's boring and that's probably not what you're here for. Still, it's worth mentioning for the number of other tenants that have used the 809 University Drive East address over the years.
* This made a lot more sense when I wrote this back in early September.
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
Former Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy
Ah, it's great to be back! I've been updating Carbon-izer's city directory for the city chock full of things that will probably never see a full post, and I've been updating the Facebook page weekly with retreads and occasional new updates of posts but it's been a while since we had an all-new page here.
As outlined last November, only businesses that have turnover are covered, making it a bit more like Columbia Closings in that regard.
"Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy" opened its College Station location at 840 University Drive East in May 2006, and sometime in the early 2010s (2013-2016) became just "Abuelo's Mexican Restaurant". It shut down in April 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, with two others closed around this time, a location in Plano (3701 Dallas Parkway, open since 2001) and one that had been open since 2003 at Barton Creek Square (as an outlot, not in the actual mall itself). Do check out that link, it's one of the things I've been working on recently...and because I live in the Austin area now (it's true...) you'll probably see more along those lines.
Anyway, I can't say much about Abuelo's. I never did go there and the restaurant chain itself is alive and well, just not in the Austin or College Station areas anymore. I'm not sure about the Austin or Plano locations, but on University Drive East, the space is already signed for a new Italian restaurant, Casa Mangiare. Otherwise, enjoy the pictures! All of them were taken in May 2022 by the author.
UPDATE 05-13-2023: Casa Mangiare opened in May 2023, almost a year after these pictures were taken. Also, for those curious, the Barton Creek Square reopened as Polvos, and the Plano location is now Sixty Vines. (Removed [defunct] from post).
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