Numbered Exits
Saturday, September 7, 2024
Ingles in Farragut (Farragut, Tennessee)
Thursday, September 5, 2024
Village Flowery and Wagner Hardware (Houston, Texas)
The other building was Wagner Hardware. When it began construction of a building fronting Kirby in May 1948, it already had been a known name moving from the Rice Village area, and after completing the building, continued to operate for the next 60 years. That all started to change in 2009, when it introduced a store-within-a-store for eco-friendly products called "New Living". Not too long after, the store changed hands and the store was remerchandised and rebranded to the "New Living" concept.Most of the hardware lines were dropped for furniture and mattresses in addition to paint, and in 2014, New Living dismantled the old Wagner Hardware sign above the store. Between 2015 and 2017, New Living refocused from "sustainable design and furniture" to simply "organic mattresses". I'm not sure how the transition between New Living and Houston Natural Mattress (the similar replacement tenant) occurred, but it happened between October 2019 and March 2020. They seem to have different phone numbers. (This post is adopted from something on Carbon-izer.com, but removed in a later update. Street View here).
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
Shoney's on Donelson Pike (Nashville, Tennessee)
It was "Flavor Fiesta" that day (or in layman's terms, Taco Tuesday) but I stayed with the traditional stuff, getting only two modest plates, one composing of pork chops, mac-n-cheese (would've preferred potatoes but they were out), vegetables, and a few rolls (I do enjoy bread), the other salad and canned fruit.
The oldest reference I can find is that this Shoney's was here in 1977 and rebuilt at some point in the 1990s for reasons unknown. Also, note the Buick Reatta in the parking lot; there's not too many of those around.
Tuesday, September 3, 2024
Carpet, Texas (Jersey Village, Texas)
Monday, September 2, 2024
Albertsons Texarkana (Texarkana, Arkansas)
Given the fact that the exterior got a facelift sometime around 2015-2016 I'm assuming that's the last time the interior was updated though there seemed to be construction on flooring on my visit. My photos are below.
Friday, August 30, 2024
Woodway Drive Exit Central Texas Parkway/Santa Fe Drive (Woodway, Texas)
Starting from the 6900 block going west (on the north side) is mostly industrial usage. We have Darr Equipment Co. (6917 Woodway Drive), which does heavy machinery (inc. CAT) rentals. In the late 1980s to the mid-2000s it was Texas Kenworth but at some point changed hands to CAT. Officially, this was around 2012, but the Darr name has been on the building at least since 2008.
Next up is 6931 Woodway Drive. From 2005 to at least through 2019, the front half of this building was occupied by Med-Equip, a medical equipment store. Med-Equip moved to a new location later (and had moved from a smaller location before), and as of 2024 is Atlas Spas & Swim Spas. United Rentals is at 6935 Woodway Drive, 7003 and 7005 Woodway are three warehouses converted into medical offices (Londonderry Plaza), 7007 Woodway Drive is Motel 6 (tax records indicate this was a Ramada Inn originally--2000 to no later than 2007, then it was a Travelodge from c. 2007 to around 2011-2012.) In 2019, it became "Woodway Inn" but it has since reverted to Motel 6. Interestingly, I seem to remember one of the hotels on the south side, either 6624 Woodway (or possibly even 6908 Woodway) being known as "Woodway Inn & Suites" briefly. Sunbelt Rentals is at 7011 Woodway Drive. In 1999, NationsRent of Texas built here, and in 2006 it was acquired by Sunbelt Rentals, which rebranded it by fall 2007 with its distinctive green-colored building and construction equipment rentals. The Chevron at 7325 Woodway was a Texaco in the mid-1990s to around 2003 when it was converted to Shell. The Shell mysteriously closed up for a few years in 2013 and re-opened again for a few more years until becoming a Chevron in 2015. The actual station dates back to 1973.
Capital Title of Texas is at 7401 Woodway, I remember following the drama of this one in its last days. This house-like office building replaced a 1950s-era gas station (1956), living most of its life as Mobil (though briefly received BP brands as late as 2007), but in its sunset years had become "A & JEH Food Mart", a convenience store that no longer sold gas. A & JEH was completely demolished sometime in late 2013, with a new foundation poured by October 2014. The A & JEH branding (on a sign distinctly shaped like a Mobil sign) remained up even into late 2014, and the tenant it would have for the latter half of the 2010s and up until 2022 (when it had closed) was Interim HealthCare of Waco, a hospice agency. (I don't know the full history of the station, but in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the convenience store here was TETCO, a brand that by the early 2010s would be acquired by 7-Eleven.
7407 Woodway Drive, advertised as "Furniture Center and Casual Shop", with two distinct buildings and shops, "Furniture Center" legally has the address of 7405 Woodway, but both stores have been operating together as one entity since at least 1990.
The bank at the northeast corner of Woodway and Santa Fe Drive (101 Santa Fe Drive) is Cadence Bank. It was built in 2001 as "Texas First State Bank" (with the "Texas First" is emphasized as the brand name). In late 2019, Texas First State Bank was merged with BancorpSouth and eventually rebranded as BancorpSouth Bank shortly before it got rebranded again when BancorpSouth Bank purchased Cadence Bancorporation and took the Cadence Bank name.
Going a bit further along is 7609 Woodway, housing Document Solutions, Sunquest Hospitality, Sunrise Construction, Kainos Technlogies, and Spritz Hair Studio, then Tuff Shed (of Waco) located at 7705 Woodway, and finally Regent Care Center of Woodway (7801 Woodway Drive, built 2001).
Going eastbound on the southside, there's banks and restaurants predominantly. There used to be almost no restaurants on this strip (even in the mid-2010s) but that has clearly been changing. First up is 7608 Woodway Drive. This used to be Davis Coffee Company, a local Waco wholesale coffee company that has been around since at least the 1950s (probably not at this location). Around the mid-to-late 2010s it quietly closed, and in 2019, the building was renovated to include Slow Rise Slice House (a pizza restaurant), Common Grounds (a branch of a coffeehouse near Baylor), and Native Sons Coffee Roasters (local coffee roasting company). Next up is Air Control (7604 Woodway, HVAC repair), First Guaranty Bank (Synergy Bank when it was built in 2015, it assumed its current name after a few years), The First National Bank of Central Texas (7500 Woodway Drive), Texas Retina Associates (203 Archway Drive, built early 2020s), Starbucks (193 Archway Drive—opened May 2024, though I'm not sure if it occupies all of the building or not), GENCO Federal Credit Union (105 Archway), and finally 101 Archway Drive, an address that is shared between a Hat Creek Burger Company location that opened in 2018 and Christian Brothers Automotive.
Besides the former RibCrib and another medical building located in its parking lot (221 Jewell Drive, Allergy and Asthma Care of Waco) is the Regal Jewel Stadium 16 & ScreenX. The theater opened in 1997 and also known as Regal Jewel Stadium 16. It appears to have been built as Hollywood Theaters (the facade was kept until the end), which was bought by Wallace Theater in 1999 and subsequently bought by Regal Entertainment in 2013, before it closed in July 2023.
Thursday, August 29, 2024
Burger-N-Wok (Valley Mills, Texas)
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