Looks Like Planet K's Blasting Off Again!...

Cacti and Christmas lights. (Photo by author, Sept. 2024)
Located at 3218 South Texas Avenue, the now-defunct Planet K (officially a smoke shop, though would've been a "head shop" back in the day) operated out of a converted house...or at least it appeared to be so. The house behind it at 3213 Doerge Street is on the same property and per Brazos CAD was built in 1953 so it seems that it might have been built for commercial use after all (it also explains why I didn't see mention of a residential address here).

The earliest reference I can find is Doerge Repair Center, which renamed to Midway Repair Center in 1957. After a brief time of vacancy, it became Tuttle's Carpet Discount Center in 1971 (later simply Tuttle's Carpet Center). Sometime around 1978 and 1979 it was replaced with Tin Barn Furniture, and sometime around 1989-1992 it was closed and replaced with Tin Barn Antiques & Collectibles, which operated until around 2004. Another antique store called Abigail's Attic operated in the house from 2004 to 2008, and Wiggles & Wags (a dog grooming boutique that had been in town since 1999) operated in the space in the mid 2010s for a few years (it had already moved in 2016, and shut down in 2020).

In 2018, Austin-based Planet K "opened" in Bryan with a major change in the building (including covering up the front entrance with a false front with a mural) but tied up official opening of the store for eight months including parking lot operations. Once Planet K actually opened in 2019 it was just five years later, August 10th, 2024, when they packed up and closed, blaming the economy and the medians.

The false wall is where Planet K's murals used to be. (Photo by author, Sept. 2024) Planet K's website is amateurish. Obviously, I can't throw stones in that department but I'm also not trying to run a business, nor am I promoting debunked myths about the military budget as mentioned on the page. The military's budget is around $700-800 billion annually, it would cost $267 billion annually to end world hunger, well above 3%. (While national debt and budget soars, the military does not have a $9T budget, nor did it ever).

In any case, Planet K has left Texas Avenue and I'm sure that there's probably either relief or disappointment depending on the views of the place.

Fat Burger Bryan

I hate using Google Street View pictures especially with Fat Burger's regrettable "update" but this is from May 2023 and shows that Fat Burger wasn't long for this world. In yet another restaurant closure on Texas Avenue, we have the final demise of Fat Burger (again, no relation to West Coast-based Fatburger) at 1801 S. Texas Avenue in Bryan, which in 2010 reached a peak of three locations—their Northgate location (gone), their Fat Burger Grill location on FM 2154 (also gone) and now their final location on Texas Avenue in Bryan, gone.

However, you didn't come here to learn about Fat Burger's last batch of fries, you came to know how it was established, what used to be here before, and that was a location of Zuider Zee Seafood Inn in 1970. I'm not sure what the relation was to Zuider Zee Oyster Bar & Seafood Restaurant, but I think it was renamed and this 1971 article suggests that it was to transform Zuider Zee into a more mass market fast food seafood concept. Even with newspaper resources things have been a bit spotty on the history of this spot. It seems Zuider Zee was gone by the early 1970s and replaced with "The Lighthouse Seafood" in 1975 though that also appears to have been short-lived.

In January 1977, Texasburger opened, not to be confused with any other similarly-named establishments. Within a year Texasburger folded and in January 1978, Chick'n Lick'n, a fried chicken restaurant opened, and within six months that was replaced with Parsley's Fried Chicken, another fried chicken restaurant.

Like many long-running restaurant buildings, in 1980 it became home to Texas Rental Company (ABC Rental Company by year-end), a "rent-to-own" store selling furniture, appliances, and electronics, which operated for a few years (closed in 1983) before becoming Burger Boy in 1984 (Burger Boy No. 2). Burger Boy of course would also have its time in Northgate, but it closed this location as early as 1985 and became Fat Burger No. 2 in 1988.

There it would remain for some time. Sometime around 2019 the restaurant exterior was redone, replacing their neon sign with a smaller backlit sign and re-doing the roof to be gray...though the restaurant had already had its best days behind it. Google photos shows that by 2022 the one-pound Bevo Burger was off the menu (the largest, the 2/3 pound "Freddie" was $10.99).

You can see the neon sign lit up in this Foursquare picture.

Fuzzy's Taco Shop (Former)

This picture was taken in September 2024 by author.
Fuzzy's Taco Shop at 1712 Southwest Parkway, Suite 100 closed permanently after August 11, 2024, a victim of the economy and/or cutbacks from Fuzzy's new ownership of Dine Brands, but let's back up a bit.

Prior to 1993, we had several 7-Eleven stores in town, far more numerous than the converted Stripes stores we do now. A few of these sites have in fact been covered, like the defunct Northgate Chevron or the Citgo at Southwest Parkway and Wellborn, mentioned mostly in passing.

In 1993, Southland Corporation (the original name of 7-Eleven, Inc.) sold off its College Station area locations to E-Z Mart, another convenience store operator. Within a decade or so all those locations changed hands and I don't believe any more operate under that name. (For instance, the location at Villa Maria and Finfeather was now "E-Z For You" even as early as 2005, something I'm sure the alive and well E-Z Mart didn't take kindly to).

Despite that, most of the former Citgo/E-Z Mart sites were in good, visible locations on corners of major roads. There was only one that I knew of that wasn't like that, an odd "parking lot" location off Southwest Parkway and Texas Avenue. No gas canopy, no corner lot. While it's on the oldest Street View I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did. (It operated from 1985 to 2008). Fuzzy's Taco Shop opened in 2010, about the time the rest of the strip center got an update. As of 2023 the stores here included Pro Nails & Spa, Wild Side Smoke Shop, and Haircuts by Whitney. The stores that were here included CR Nails (which Pro Nails replaced, here in the early 2010s), Mak's C Store (predated Wild Side, here 2011-2012), a dental office (dating back to the 1990s with different ownership with just a simple "DENTIST" sign, getting a real sign of "Dr. Black Dental Care"; moved in 2013 to Rock Prairie), and Prestige Cleaners (later Aggieland Cleaners, ultimately absorbed into Whitney's space).

Most of the other spaces around here we've covered. To the immediate east is Shipley Do-Nuts, then Arby's, which shares the parking lot with Red Roof Inn, NailSpa, what used to be Kettle, and connecting to that is Days Inn.

Bryan Kettle

It's difficult to get a good shot so this Google Street View will have to do. Besides, they replaced all those mercury-vapor lamps back around late 2019. With the demise of the College Station Kettle in 2022, the Bryan Kettle (at 2712 South Texas Avenue) still remains, the last remnant of the Kettle chain (now with three independent locations--Tucson, Arizona and Laredo, Texas (which I'm not even 100% sure is open anymore) it's time to look at the Bryan Kettle.

The oldest records for the address (1955) comes up with the home of Sunset Trailer Court which occupied the block. In 1962 Beltone Hearing Testing Laboratory opened under H.R. "Tex" Mayhall though within a few years Mayhall relocated to Austin. (It likely used Sunset's office.) By the mid 1960s the address was home to Wilie Trailer Sales, with Denny's opening a new restaurant on the site in 1969.

After a run of ten years, the Denny's changed hands. Under new owner J. Carlos Hongo, the name changed to Carlson's, which dropped 24 hour service while adding items like Kobe Teriyaki Steak to the menu. However, Carlson's closed in early 1982 and soon reopened as Kettle, which featured 24 hour service once more, and that 24 hour service would continue for almost forty years (ending in 2020).

The demise of the College Station location meant that this is the only Kettle remaining in the area. Besides the Arizona one, that Laredo location I'm not 100% sure is open anymore. It looks rather desolate these days.