FedMart

This ad appeared in a publication shortly before coming to College Station. (Google Books)


Before Wal-Mart...before Kmart...there was FedMart. Founded in 1954 in San Diego by Sol Price and later had concepts "borrowed" by the late Sam Walton, including the "Mart" suffix¹, FedMart arrived in College Station in November 1973, just a few months before Kmart did.

By the time FedMart opened in College Station, the name was a bit of a misnomer (originally a membership-only store for government employees), but it was a large, modern store open to all. The store featured "one-stop shopping" including not only apparel, sporting goods, appliances (even heavy appliances), and other dry goods, but groceries as well. (It also appears to have lacked a bakery and deli). The November 7th, 1973 edition of The Eagle ran a huge 12-page multi-page guide/ad for the store for the store's big opening on November 8th, mostly talking about FedMart's features (but did not include a map). An auto center/gas station was to open in early 1974. FedMart had a bit of unusual merchandise mix, having both discount store items and food, but not a large selection of either. The grocery component was heavily advertised but only offered a few brands or sizes of a given item that a full supermarket would carry more of, even by 1973 supermarket standards, and lacked a lot of the features that a full supermarket would have (no bakery or deli). The College Station store was part of a small handful of stores opened by the company in the Houston area, as in this era, FedMart had picked up numerous sites from Globe, a discount store operated by Walgreens.

A spread in November 1973 showed some of FedMart's many specials. In previous versions of this page, this was just a thumbnail but now you can view it at full size!
The development also straightened out Tarrow with a new road that connected to University called Fed Mart Drive and cutting off the "old Tarrow" portion that curved around toward the back.

I don't have a picture of FedMart when it was operating, but given an old early '80s map depicts the now-closed store as looking almost exactly like one of the San Antonio stores, it's assumed that the College Station looked like it too.

FedMart's time in College Station would only be for less than a decade, perhaps owing to upper management's merchandising decisions (based out of Germany starting in the late 1970s) to expand to a full "hypermarket", which didn't really work in most of the locations (and the concept was largely untested in the United States). Maybe it was just the fact that at the time, the warehouse foods + discount store concept was not as effective as just having a more full-featured discount store like Wal-Mart and Kmart did. In any case, the College Station store, along with all the other stores in the Texas area (San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, Victoria, etc.) closed in November 1981. The chain's Arizona and California stores went out of business less than a year later.

Aerial photo of FedMart around the time it closed, c. 1981

While the building would never be used by a single retail tenant, it was purchased by local investors and converted into Chimney Hill Shopping Center. The first tenants of these would be Kettle and Hillside Lanes, a bowling alley. Kettle #145 would ultimately close just a few years later but with its opening, for a brief time the area had FIVE Kettle restaurants, all open 24 hours—next to Rodeway Inn, a former Denny's restaurant, the College Station location, and the one near campus.

Unlike the other four restaurants, which stood alone, both Hillside Lanes and Kettle would open into each other. (While Kettle was a bit of a nostalgic experience in the 2010s, a smoky diner connected to a bowling alley sounds like a VERY different experience). Western Beverages moved into the old FedMart Service Center building at the corner of Fed Mart Drive (renamed Tarrow Street East within a few years) and University Drive East. The transformation into Chimney Hill Shopping Center (aka Chimney Hill Retail Plaza) started in late 1983 a 70-foot tall landmark sign was erected to serve as the signage for a brand-new shopping center. That same month it was announced that the Western Beverages would be evicted and remodeled for the new Bryan-College Station Chamber of Commerce building (later known as 715 University Drive East).

The name of the center was named after a nearby development of mixed-use development built off Tarrow with townhomes and small office suites (the alley off Arguello Drive serves both). By December 1983 David Gardner's Jewelers was operating in the building (it was here at least into the early 1990s). Soon after, Chimney Hill Bowling Center opened. There was also a new addition to the FedMart building that housed the relocated Western Beverages.

Hillside Lanes closed in December 1983 but quickly reopened as Chimney Hill Bowling Center (within a few days).² In 1990 the bowling alley closed³ and most of the building continued to be a rotating selection of smaller tenants, with the exception of Western Beverages, the second restaurant space, and a second outlot built in the parking lot. This second outlot (besides the Chamber of Commerce) was built as Fletcher's Original State Fair Corny Dogs, which had several small locations in Texas but by the late 1980s they had closed.⁴ This was briefly (for a few months) Burger Express, then Dogs & Such until 2000.⁵ From 2002 to September 2010, a location of Shake's Frozen Custard operated in the spot, but after its closure the building was demolished.

The restaurant space (with the address of 707 University Drive East)⁶ started out as Bill Edge's "Confederate House" restaurant in early 1984 (back when a name like was socially acceptable as Southern hospitality and heritage, and not demonized like it is today), based after a Houston restaurant. Part of the problem was that the area was in recession when it opened, and a "top of the line" steakhouse as it was put was a tough sell in the economy. A name update to "Confederate House '85" and new management (likely other changes as well) didn't help turn things around, nor did another retool (changing it to "Tradition Restaurant & Bar") saved the restaurant. It closed around late 1986 or early 1987. By August 1987, there was another restaurant, Cafe d'Amerique, operating in the space.

One last retool for Confederate House.

Rembrandt's opened in 1992 after a period of vacancy (doesn't seem like there was anything after Cafe d'Amerique, which closed in spring 1988) and closed in 1994...and then The Tavern on Chimney Hill opened in 1997 in suite 406 and operated until 2000. Finally, in 2007, The Republic Steakhouse opened in the spot. Shortly afterward, however, in 2008, the City of College Station purchased the strip center as part of a failed bid to build a large hotel/conference center in the spot.⁷ The early 2010s saw the center start clearing out (Western Beverages went away around as late as early 2014, I seem to recall) and in 2016 demolition began not long after the City gave up on the space and sold it to developers. The idea was The Republic could stay as the lot was redeveloped and be a part of the new development, but plans shifted again and it would move to a new building on the site. (There was also talk of a Black Walnut Cafe being a major tenant). By this point in time, the Chamber of Commerce building had moved out to a new location on Highway 6 (the move happened around 2013-2014) with 2016 seeing the demolition of the structure minus The Republic building, which itself had been new construction. The original FedMart building was gone.

By 2019 new businesses had taken its place. The Republic moved into a new spot at the southwest side of the property (with a bar-within-a-restaurant, Primrose Path). A new Starbucks opened in March 2020 (moving from down the street) with a strip center beginning business soon after, soon filled out with the likes of Five Guys, FedEx Office (opened in early 2022 and moving from its longtime Northgate home), Charles Schwab, and Snooze: An AM Eatery. Drury Plaza Hotel (705 University Dr. East) opened for business around early 2025. In November 2025, Sakura, a Japanese restaurant opened a new building (713 University Drive East) right about where The Republic used to be, sharing its strip mall building with hair salon Drybar.

1. The rest of the concept was lifted liberally from New England chain Ann & Hope, which Wal-Mart forced out of business in 2001. 2. I'm not sure how the Kettle space was reused.
3. I feel like I read somewhere that the lanes were moved to the MSC but I may be remembering how Wolf Pen's skating rink was moved from Bryan.
4. There was another location on Gessner Road in Houston. While no longer a Fletcher's, the building is still the same, and looked identical to the College Station location.
5. A second location opened on Texas Avenue at the short-lived Red Line location.
6. Officially this was 701 University Drive East Suite 406.
7. There were of course, other tenants over the years but I've already covered the major ones. Some of the lesser tenants that were mentioned in the older version of this post included the 1993 tenants like A&M Travel Service, Beneficial Texas Inc. (insurance), Chimney Hill Florist & Gifts, and Qualice Network Services.

UPDATE 01-28-2026: A long-awaited redo of the post has been created, from a new picture to current events to more chronological ordering and so on.
UPDATE 01-30-2026: As the most recent rewrite was sitting in the backlog for a few years before I decided to finish it, there were some things that didn't quite make the cut. Some things from an old "new" draft included an article about the 2013 plan and confirms that Western Beverages was still there as of 2013. The new Republic restaurant opened in December 2018 allowing for the demolition of the old building, and a few more tenants that I didn't previously mentioned. There was "Whoops Bar & Grill" (which I got from a tax listing, and did not seem to open under that name if it all), Tonix/Metro/The Lounge (operated in the last half of the 2000s, a nightclub with three concepts operating simultaneously), A&M Travel Service, Total Tan, Reflections Hair Design, Qualice Network Services, Points Plus, EPI Center, JE & R Finance Inc., Custom Operating Systems Inc., 11th Frame, and Pacific Garden (1986-1990, this may have been in the Kettle's space...though wouldn't have opened into the bowling alley). I had also taken the time to mention that I went into the Chamber of Commerce building a few times to get the latest city map, which I remember being fascinated with as a kid as it included "new" streets, some of which were later built (Highway 40) and some of which weren't (Jones-Butler Road extending south from Holleman but looping and connecting with Southwest Parkway)...which I'm not sure was ever on the books.

PLAY Gaming Café

Taken June 2014.

Once a Planned Parenthood location a long time ago (likely something else, built in 1964), this is now a bar (Cedar Lane, another bar is in the back), but the focus is on PLAY Gaming Café, which was open around 2005 and advertised at Hastings (another now-defunct establishment). The College Main location was tucked out of sight from the main Northgate establishments, and related parking problems didn't help. From the comments, I have this quote from "downhillcrasher", "I remember Play pretty well, they had everything from the latest games to old school nintendo. Almost everything that is. What didn't they have? Cheap beer. And what do you need to make it in Northgate? Cheap beer." The archived website website sort of works, but almost nothing remains of it on the Wayback Machine save for a Flash intro video and a page of the forums (appropriately, from 2005).

UPDATE 01-27-2026: The first address I can find for 303 College Main (this building's address) is Aggieland Agency (Fidelity Union Life Insurance Company). It had vacated by 1977. In 1978, there was Financial Achievements Inc. with Planned Parenthood at 303B¹ though by the late 1980s it had expanded to the rest of the building. In 2001 it served as a leasing office for Tradition at Northgate, and after PLAY, it briefly served as the new reincarnation of Varsity Shop (see this article) before becoming Cedar Lane in 2008.
1. Planned Parenthood did not offer abortions at this facility and explicitly denied being abortionists, it operated (at least stated to operate, depending on your point of view) as a clinic that screened for cancer and information in regards to unwanted pregnancies, including alternate solutions than abortion.

H-E-B Pantry / Gattitown / DSW

The store today (picture mine). The facade just keeps getting bigger and bigger...

H-E-B built its first store in College Station in 1991 (according to InSite Magazine) at 2026 Texas Avenue South, a time when they were starting to expand H-E-B from outside of its confines in Central Texas toward East Texas, Houston, and even Louisiana. College Station-Bryan got three of them in 1991 before the first Houston stores in 1992.

Unlike the full line H-E-B stores, the Pantry stores were small even by early 1990s standards (averaging 20k to 30k square feet) and lacked departments that other stores had, only with a meat counter, produce, and a very small collection (maybe one aisle) of non-food items like HBA (health & beauty aids) and pet items. At the same time, two more stores were built in Bryan, one near the intersection of Twin Boulevard and South Texas Avenue, and one near the intersection of Old Hearne Road and North Texas Avenue.

I'm still mad that I lost both of my store directories for this store, which in addition to showing the layout also listed all of the H-E-B Pantry stores, though you can see the list here on Houston Historic Retail.

Instead of parking spaces in front of it like the other stores in the center, it had a large ramp in front of it for shoppers. Inside, it had mid-rising drop ceilings with a few random "Texas" graphics, such as a picture of a bunch of haybales scattered through a field. The produce was in the right side, there were ten check-out stands (with one being an express lane, 10 items or less), a photo developing kiosk, a "bakery" that didn't seem to make anything that fresh (fare was mostly limited to some tasteless bagels, the stuff that would be sold in the bread aisle today).

In 2002, this store closed and was replaced with the massive and modern store across Holleman. That wasn't the end for the space, though in summer 2003, Gattiland closed its Bryan location and moved into the old Pantry Foods store within the month. Although I was getting too old to be part of the Gattitown demographic by the time it opened, I visited anyway, because it was new, and it was to be the latest in the technology. Gattitown totally rebuilt the facade (the Texas part remained visible from the back, but unless you lived in one of the apartments behind the complex, you could not see it) and removed the ramp in the parking lot, making it smooth. You also had to enter through the sides.

“When we built [the Bryan location] it was the second GattiLand we built,” Moffett said. “This is the latest generation, and it’s going to be more comfortable and fun for every age. From here on out, they’re all going to be GattiTowns.”

This is the sixth restaurant to open under the GattiTown name and “eatertainment” theme, and each is decorated to reflect its community, Moffett said. At the College Station restaurant, an Aggieland Dining Room will be lined with reproductions of Benjamin Knox paintings. The drink station is positioned beneath a mock water tower, and other rooms include a city hall and a mock movie theater.

The game room will occupy the entire back section of the restaurant, but Moffett said adults can find quiet dining areas in a corner cafe and the Library, which will have high-speed Internet connections and five iMac computers for customer use.

Moffett said he plans to hire a full-time marketing employee to promote the restaurant’s meeting space, which is free to use once customers buy a meal. There also are two meeting rooms set apart from the customer traffic flow, and some of the dining rooms have sliding walls that can divide them into smaller spaces.

The "mock water tower" was modeled after by-then defunct old water tower at the corner of Park Place and Texas Avenue, and as for the "Library", I never did find (employees didn't seem to know where it was, a sign of bad things to come), but it apparently did exist and was soon converted into another theater room. The midway area wasn't all that better than Gattiland, if anything, it seemed smaller. There wasn't even room for a playground. The old style tokens that Gattiland used was replaced by a card system.

Well, initially Gattitown was a huge success and the parking lot stayed packed every Friday and Saturday night. But as the years wore on, Gattitown started to get competition in the form of Chuck E. Cheese which opened at Post Oak Mall in 2005, and at Grand Central Station, which happened soon after. Chuck E. Cheese did the most damage to Gattitown, with Gattitown's knockoff formula competing with the original, and just like that, Gattitown slid downhill just like its predecessor. It was pretty much exclusively for kids (no classic arcades, or even alcohol) for that matter, and even then stayed pretty empty except for the "Kids Eat Free" nights. In July 2012, Gattitown closed. The pizza was now abysmal (not even fully cooked) and Mr. Gatti's left the area for good after nearly 40 years of jumping around town.

It wasn't the end of the space, though: in fall of 2013, it reopened as DSW (Designer Shoe Warehouse). Despite the fact that the facade of the old Gattitown/Pantry was completely covered up, the design restored the appearance of a retail store, so if you go inside and close your eyes you can almost remember how the Pantry used to be laid out.

In the same shopping center (developed by H-E-B originally), there's also Hastings, built after H-E-B, and later became Havertys.

2006 - Star Nails
2008 - Originally Sir Knight Tuxedoes (1996-2005) and later The Pita Pit (operated from 2006 to around 2021)
2010 - Marble Slab Creamery
2048 - Scoots (scooter rental), moved out 2024 to a stand-alone and Gong Cha as of 2025
2050 - Freebirds World Burrito
2050E - Old Navy (took up unused space but added a new facade, opened 1998).

UPDATE 02-24-2022: Updated for Pita Pit's closure, adding the tuxedo store previously mentioned, did some rearranging to list Old Navy with the others (along with a fixed date), and updated an old sentence to account for Hastings' closure.
UPDATE 04-04-2023: Our sister site Carbon-izer did manage to have the H-E-B Pantry College Station picture submitted to them through an anonymous contributor. Check it out here! Some of the first paragraphs have been changed, including linking to a Bryan store.
UPDATE 06-30-2023: In fall 2022, a new restaurant, Champion Pizza, opened in the former Pita Pit, but it probably won't last the year—a photo from TexAgs shows the odd, short hours the pizza restaurant actually has (even if it IS from NYC).
UDPATE 10-05-2025: Accounted for Scoots closure and replacement restaurant.

Marooned on Northgate

Courtesy Project HOLD
Editor's Note: Originally, I had created this page as "104-115 College Main". It was created to follow the breakup of an even larger page on Northgate (now offline). This page was later slowly broken up to make new pages like Kyoto Sushi, Antonio's Pizza by the Slice, Sarge's, Dead Lazlo's Coffee Pub, and Former Aggie Cleaners on College Main.

Pictured here is what is now known as Social Lounge but was Marooned in the 1990s (1990-1998), a record store that many still remember today. After a brief stint as a Quizno's, in 2005, it transitioned permanently into bar space, originally named V-Bar. In 2007, V-Bar had a bit of bad publicity when a Rice basketball player was killed during a stabbing, but ultimately, the story came out that the man (and his brother, who was also injured) were killed because they were beating another man to death and the man's friend came to his aid. That's the short version of it anyway, but because of the bad publicity from the attack, in the late 2000s, V-Bar became "Social Lounge" (same ownership).

From what information can be found on the building, here is a rough chronology: Aggie Tailors (1952?-1955?)
The Slaxatorium (circa 1955, love the name)
Nita's Alterations (circa 1964, see here)
Stereo Shack (fall 1972)
The Hanging Tree (1973-1974)
Cycles Etc. (c. 1987, before they moved within the block)
The Aggie Grill (1988)
Taipei Express (1989)
Marooned (1990-1998)
Quizno's (2002-2004)
V-Bar (2005-~2007)
Social Lounge (~2008-present)
Due to the fact that there are large gaps in between, this probably isn't the complete chronology of the space (see below). Making this complex is it's technically a part of the same building that holds Foundation Room (colloquially "Foundies") today. As mentioned before, that building was previously covered on the blog; however, the gaps don't seem to indicate that a larger tenant occupied both at the same time.

UPDATE 04-02-2022: Cut down post to just 110 College Main and updated that section. UPDATE 10-07-2025: Removed Editor's Note, added new tenants (Aggie Tailors, The Slaxatorium, Nita's Alterations, Cycles Etc., The Aggie Grill). Added [The Slaxatorium] as a label as a joke. It really shouldn't get a label like that (it's not for one-offs) but I love it.