Wickes Lumber

A full-service hardware store!
This has always been a building I've seen since my youth, operating as a business I can't remember anymore (it had six letters and appeared to be there for a while, given how faded it was) but originally, it was Wickes Lumber, operating since at least 1975 (likely built soon after the completion of the "West Loop"). Given the ad below, it seemed to be a full hardware store, even going with its own functioning railroad spur to bring in lumber directly.


I don't know when Wickes Lumber went out of business...FundingUniverse seems to indicate late 1980s or early 1990s, which makes sense and then somehow later down the line, Wickes was bought and operates in the UK exclusively, but such a thing is out of the scope out of this article.

You aren't missing much in terms of building variety.

After the closure of Wickes in the late 1980s or early 1990s (as mentioned before), about two or three other businesses tried their hand at the building. There was that faded sign with six characters in the early to mid-1990s (as far as I know that was the first tenant after Wickes) and something else as well later (or two), until finally coming to Moore Supply Co. and their "Bath & Kitchen Showplace" (initially with a tiny sign) sometime in the early to mid 2000s. Sometime since this post was last updated (2017?) Bath & Kitchen Showplace renamed to "Facets".

The surrounding buildings that Wickes had were all sold off (they were owned by Wickes--during the right time of day, you can see a Wickes Lumber "labelscar" on the Boral Bricks building). Brazos Valley Turf occupies the building to the right of it (has been there for years), and Boral Bricks was in the back (probably originally something else after Wickes). The addresses are all different...Wickes Lumber had been 101 West Loop, but the current addresses include Moore Supply Co. as 1530 Harvey Mitchell, Brazos Valley Turf as 101 N. Dowling Road (which is strange since the same address is shared with Living Water Pottery), and Boral Bricks ("Boral Bricks Studio"?) is at 95 N. Dowling Road. Brazos CAD was no help in trying to get any information on the confusing addresses of these things, nor any old phone books. The only things that I gleaned from my resources was that Brazos Valley Turf opened in the late 1990s (which makes sense with what I remember), but even before BV Turf opened, the address of Country Grocery was 101 A N. Dowling Road, which suggests that even back in '96, there was a second address for that.

Finally, we have those pictures of railroad spur I mentioned before. It shut down around or before the untimely closure of Wickes Lumber, and a cell phone tower has been built on the site, but some of it remains today. These pictures were taken in June 2010 with my then-new cell phone camera, and I'm excited to show these, even if they are low quality. It had been around since at least 1975, so it was likely built soon after the completion of the "West Loop".

One more story—in the late 1990s or early 2000s, someone had the bright idea of parking their car in the wide right of way area between Harvey Mitchell Parkway and the parking lot, and putting a "For Sale" sign on it. This, in turn, was a success. The car was sold, and other people started to put up their cars in the space to be sold. At one time there was up to five cars, and no less than 3, until TxDOT got fed up with people parking their cars there, and put up a row of "No Parking" signs in the area that remained until construction of the overpass began.

UPDATE 03-20-2021: Added back section that was previously from "Photos of the West Loop". There's some sort of collision center coming to the former Boral Bricks area, but I need to get more information.

UPDATE 01-04-2024: A few corrections and updates.

I did want to make a few corrections. The warehouses behind the store were indeed part of Wickes Lumber, before the construction of Joe Hudson's Collision Center (today at 95 N. Dowling Road and opened around August 2022), you COULD see the faded Wickes Lumber scar on one of the buildings on Wellborn Road, given the right light conditions. Wickes Lumber also opened in 1974.

Some additional information I uncovered that there was a "JST CONCRETE CO INC" (operating from 1995 to 1996) at the address; however I can't confirm or deny it was the first tenant I remember seeing there, as well as Les Investments Inc. from 1990 to 1994 (probably not the actual name on the building) and "SHR ROOFING SUPPLY INC." from 1994 to 1997. Showman Electrical Supply Co. Inc. was here from 2001 to 2002 and used the 1530 Harvey Mitchell address (the first to do so, looks like).

Also, I believe 2017 was when B&K Showplace became Facets, with a repaint coming around that time.

UPDATE 08-10-2024:: Sometime in the first half of 2024, Facets moved to 3164 Holleman Drive South Suite 600, presumably the space here has been absorbed into more warehouse space.

Furrow Building Materials

Finally, a picture of it in operation, from Project HOLD. Taken circa 2001.
1501 Earl Rudder Freeway (Hwy 6 S)

Opening in June 1984 (the ad below is from 1985) as perhaps one of the earliest commercial buildings east of the freeway, Furrow (everyone called it "Furrow's", though) was the main go-to hardware store in the 1990s for me. It was the type of store that could be called "your father's hardware store", it was for my dad, and I have fond memories of it, too. The company went out of business in 2001, and was in the last stores to close. I remember one of my last visits was on September 11, 2001. It had tile on the floor and drop ceilings, and was by all definitions a classic hardware store: bulk displays of the basics (like nails) that you could fill your bag and weigh, plumbing equipment, an outdoor lumber yard, and more.

To me, this was the distilled version of the "hardware store". It had plumbing, insulation, and other things for DYI work, but didn't have large bathroom displays, no lawnmowers on display, no various household appliances (no smoke detectors if I recall correctly, but may have stocked lightbulbs), no garden center, no flooring. The employees didn't try to upsell overpriced décor for your house, and it was convenient.

There were also lots of candy in bags near the front, about a pound of the stuff each, like, say peanut candy. I remember I got something near the end of the store's days and it was really stale, indicating that they hadn't moved merchandise in that section very often.

Today, Lock N Roll Storage (Official Photo)
Interestingly, the company name was Payless Cashways, and held a number of different names used in towns.

Years later, I would revisit the "small hardware store" scene with Ace of Aggieland, though sadly it just wasn't the same (for reasons detailed there).


Updated October 2017 with new date from reader mail

Former Ace of Aggieland

Picture from November 2019. That "NOW OPEN!" has been up there for over three years.
Navarro Drive was originally a road in the part of the Southwood Valley subdivision that had duplexes. It ran from Rio Grande to Welsh, with stop signs at Welsh and Pedernales Drive, neither of which had stopped cross traffic. It ended abruptly on the west edge of town, with no cul-de-sac. Meanwhile, over on Wellborn Road, there was a small private road called Elbrich Road, which was a dirt road that led to a small self-storage facility. It was a lonely little property with a few sodium-vapor lights (or mercury-vapor), and lacked a formal name. Just further up from the storage unit was a private dwelling, but it wasn't able to be seen from Wellborn. On the other side of Wellborn was Cain Road. But circa 2000, Elbrich and the house were destroyed and replaced with a large extension of Navarro, which included a very wide stretch with more duplexes. Still, while Navarro now connected to Wellborn, it felt lonely and empty at that corner.

Fast forward to 2007, when a sign announced that a small strip mall, anchored by Ace Hardware, would open. Over 2008, I saw it go from a foundation (March 2008, en route to Houston for Spring Break) to a full plaza. "Wellborn Shopping Center" opened in 2009 (I think the Ace may have opened in late 2008), though it originally opened as "Navarro West Plaza", which I think is a better name. Note that the tenants for the PDF have several errors.

It seemed so cool that "Ace of Aggieland" (at 11907 FM 2154) was a "small" hardware store so close to home -- it came in years after Doug's, Furrow, and Paint & More all closed. Ace was the place for my family, as it was the closest hardware store, and actually was a place where you could walk in and explore. Unfortunately, it didn't have the same feel as Furrow's, which I sorely missed: it had a lot of home decor and random kitchen junk, and was smaller. It did have a lot of the things that Lowe's and Home Depot had, which made it convenient for getting small but common components. And although it didn't have candy, it had free coffee and popcorn, which most (all?) Ace hardware stores had.

However, Ace did not ultimately last long. Not too long after it opened, Wellborn Road began a widening process that made access difficult, furthermore, Lowe's opened a superstore at William D. Fitch and Highway 6 in fall of 2010. Despite being about four miles away, it sapped Ace's customer base, and between these two factors, Ace folded in late January 2011, without even a going out of business sale. Liquidation came in March, whereupon it officially stopped being Ace Hardware.

The store remained largely vacant even as Wellborn Road concluded construction, though it saw a few interim uses before an Ashley HomeStore Clearance (later Ashley HomeStore Outlet) store opened in May 2016. Current stores (besides Ashley) are as follows:
Caminos Mexican Cafe - From 2009 to 2020, this restaurant was Fat Burger Grill and basically the same thing as Fat Burger in Bryan (and the former Northgate one). Despite having a near identical menu—even the old "Bevo Burger" was still there with a full pound of meat, I believe the restaurant was a franchise of the other locations. In late 2020 it was sold and reopened as Caminos Mexican Cafe (aka Caminos De Michoacan Mexican Cafe).

Note that the PDF above confuses Fat Burger Grill with the West Coast chain Fatburger.

Fatty's Smoke Shop - Fatty's Smoke Shop opened in August 2020 and for a few months following, had an inflatable Darth Vader on the roof.

Caminos replaced Fat Burger Grill, as mentioned above, and Fatty's replaced Mak's Liquor. Mak's Liquor was next to Fat Burger Grill and survived for over 10 years. It pulled out around the time not long after the new Twin Liquors opened at Jones Crossing (larger and easier access) and went to that shopping center between Rock Prairie and Graham (next to the Chicken Express). During that time they painted their signage blue but now that has mostly flaked off after a matter of months (back to red again). The PDF calls this "Max's Liquor" for some reason. Then there was "All Phone Toys" (opened in 2009, closed around 2013, vacant since) and finally Mpower Physical Fitness (operated from 2015 to around 2019). Some old PDFs mentioned "Shoe Bar" in this place (never opened, or maybe it was storage). After a while it got a real tenant (long after APT closed down), but it has also since closed (signage remains).

Another view of the shopping center.

UPDATE 01-24-2021: Updated Fat Burger's space and also changed something in relation to an unmarked summer 2020 update.

UPDATE 09-18-2021: After over five years, Ashley HomeStore Outlet (renamd from Clearance) FINALLY has permanent signage. Also made some changes to separate former and current tenants. Also, at some point in early 2021, the center received a repaint to white and a dark blue-green color.