Various Lockhart Businesses (Lockhart, Texas)

Once again, we're working from Carbon-izer.com to bring you this latest post (also see the the archived version) with only a few changes, most notably removing the previously covered the late Huddle House. It concerns Colorado Street in Lockhart, aka US-183, which was left a business route after US-183/SH-130 went around it in the late 2000s.

Kreuz Market / 619 N. Colorado Street
Kreuz Market has been part of Lockhart for over a century and its current building opened in 1999 looks like a modern, tourist-friendly location, looking more like a Rudy's rather than a "real" barbecue joint. The new location opened with much fanfare, notably with the publicity stunt of physically dragging a bucket of the hot coals of the old location to the new location.

When I first visited it in the late 2000s, it famously bragged that unlike most barbecue joints, it had no sauce and no forks...which was, okay I guess. On the forks issue, sure they didn't have forks when they started way back when but they didn't have proper sanitation either, so it's a bit of a wash. But forks are necessary when eating. You can't do it with plastic knives and spoons (which were provided, no metal utensils). The sauce? You could make, say, a great hamburger or French fries without any condiments, but to say that there's no sauce implies that your food is that good. Spoiler alert: it wasn't.

In the end, Kreuz Market did change its long-standing policy. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. On one hand, it was poorly implemented and quite pretentious, on the other hand, it did give it a bit of uniqueness.

They mention the Bryan location and its decision to have no sauce or forks (before reversing the position), which I have actually previously covered on the site here.

Schlotzsky's / 111 North Colorado Street
This Schlotzsky's opened in 2018 at the site of a former Philips 66 gas station. The signage for the restaurant (branded as "Schlotzsky's Austin Eatery") is very gas stationesque.

Walgreens / 200 S. Colorado St.
The Walgreens occupies a full block and opened around 2007 (completely redeveloped).

H-E-B / 403 South Colorado Street
H-E-B (#445) is the only full-line supermarket in the Lockhart area. The relatively modern store at 45,000 square feet was opened in 1997. Prior to this a much smaller H-E-B faced east on the same lot (about 25k square feet, sharing the building with another tenant). While they were closed, they apparently temporarily occupied the space of Super S Foods at 1220 S. Colorado Street.

Family Dollar / 1118 S. Colorado Street
Family Dollar opened a new store in Lockhart in 2004 (a previous store in Lockhart had closed in 1997). In 2005, the company introduced a more modern logo based on the old 1970s-era one with a little logo of a family and a new color scheme, while retaining the original typeface. The logo here was updated in early 2011.

Dairy Queen / 1125 South Colorado Street
I wrote about the Lockhart Dairy Queen on Two Way Roads back in 2012...the Lockhart Dairy Queen was built in 1987 (though Lockhart had a Dairy Queen for decades prior) and although the restaurant style wasn't unique in and of itself, it was certainly very different from the rest of the Texas Dairy Queen restaurants with red roofs and fairly limited seating. It also had a playground, which for Dairy Queen was quite rare. The inside of the store wasn't particularly interesting but at least was quirky, with a "Medicare Corner" inside, but sometime between August 2010 and July 2011, it went from this to this...in other words, into a generic DQ model that so many restaurants were being built or remodeled into. No playground, no Medicare Corner.

Whataburger / 100 State Park Road
The origins of this "Oddaburger" are shrouded in mystery, opening in 2005. It's certainly a strange-looking store, with some records indicating it was "Bumpers Drive-In" of Texas, but it's not known if it's related to Bumpers Drive-In in Mississippi. We reached out but they haven't called back.

Lockhart Chisholm Trail Bar-B-Q / 1323 S. Colorado Street
This barbecue restaurant has been here since 1978 and is one of the main barbecue restaurants that calls Lockhart home.

I've had Chisholm Trail about once a year for roughly a decade now; I should know how it tastes (and that's more than I can say about most restaurants). It's probably not the best barbecue I've had but it's better than most.

While Fearless Critics (a restaurant guide I have) savagely ripped apart a number of well-liked restaurants in Houston, Chisholm Trail was not spared either, ranking quite poorly. While it's not entirely a hit piece (the sides are indeed weak), they didn't even mention the homemade bread Chisholm Trail often has available (not sure how "homemade" it is but it at least is different). I know white bread is "classic" for barbecue but the bread they have is good too.

Fresh Donuts / 910 S. Colorado Street
This generic-looking donut shop was built new (as "Fresh Donuts") in 2016.

McDonald's / 1330 South Colorado Street
McDonald's has been here since 1993, and sometime in the late 1990s or early 2000s a Playplace was haphazardly built onto the side. In 2014, the restaurant was demolished and rebuilt without an indoor playground.

Caldwell County Justice Center / 1703 South Colorado Street
This operated as a Walmart discount store (#292) from 1980 to 2012, and it survived long enough to get the modern circa 2009 "Walmart" logo. The renovation to a county government building came a few years later. It also has the county clerk's office.

Exxon / 1706 US-183
This goes back to the 1980s as a Diamond Shamrock/Corner Store and was still a Diamond Shamrock as of spring 2008 (it was a Valero by late 2009). Unfortunately, Circle K, the successor to Corner Store, decided not to do a full rebrand on this store and pulled out by late 2019 and it became an Exxon a few years later. The convenience store is unbranded, you can still see the scar of the old Diamond Shamrock-era Corner Store logo.

Verizon / 1712 S. Colorado Street
This Verizon store opened in 2011. From 2003 to around 2010 it was a Jack in the Box restaurant.

Walmart / 1904 South Colorado Street
This store opened in May 2012 to replace the aforementioned smaller Walmart.

At the junction of Magnolia Avenue and Pierce Street, US-183 is carried on by Pierce Street east toward I-10 while Highway 80 (which joins at East Austin Street) continues south. There, it ends at Karnes City southeast of San Antonio.

Jewel-Osco in Kenosha (Kenosha, Wisconsin)

Taking a break from the exports from Carbon-izer, this is a quick article about the January 1996 opening of Jewel-Osco in Kenosha, Wisconsin at 7014 Green Bay Road (it's part of a bigger shopping center). It was their first store in Wisconsin after some small, outdated stores left the state decades earlier. Soon after, the company would continue into Milwaukee by purchasing Cub Foods stores.

The new store boasted their bakery producing unique products like kringle (if it's anything like O&H Danish Bakery, whose products are available nationally at Trader Joe's stores every December, then it must have been great) and some regional items available.

Sadly, the store didn't last...while it sailed through Albertsons' troubles, soon after getting the Milwaukee stores as part of the company's break-up, new owner SuperValu closed the Milwaukee/Wisconsin stores (speculated to be part of a pre-arranged agreement with independents in the area), back in 2007. As of this writing, Hobby Lobby occupies half the space today with Jewel-Osco gone once more.

Research Boulevard in Austin (Austin, Texas)

Happy NYE! This page concerns "Research Boulevard" in Austin, or US-283. It features content previously/currently at Other Roads in North Austin with some new content/updates. It removes the Schlotzsky's at Balcones Woods Drive (despite facing Research Blvd.); that's for another time. Future entries will likely be stand-alone.

Mi Pueblito / 8237 Research Blvd.
This was a Burger King from 1974 to 1993. As of 2007 (into the mid-2010s) it was Speedy Align, now it is Mi Pueblito, a taco shop and convenience store since around 2019.

Target / 8601 Research Blvd.
This was one of the first Target stores in Austin, opening way back in in October 1980. Since then, it's been expanded and remodeled several times. (See the South Austin page for its South Austin counterpart opened at the same time, T-96).

El Pollo Rico / 8702 Research Blvd.
This former IHOP was closed around 2015 and is now the home of El Pollo Rico (somewhat oversized, I'd say).

Colonnade / 9033-9041 Research Blvd.
This strip center is composed of three buildings, some of them with upper levels. The first two buildings have the address of 9033, with the building closest to the east having an upper level portion (with Apartment Experts). Zaika Indian Cuisine is here, with The Honey Baked Ham Company in the building as well. The center building is also 9033 but has no upper level and is occupied by Mikado Ryotei in its entirety as of 12/24 (it is suite 100 of 9033). 9041, presumably built later, has suite 100 occupied by Casa Chapala, which was Black-eyed Pea from 1984 to the early 2010s.

Jim's Restaurant / 9091 Research Blvd.
This Jim's was built in 1974. "The Arch-ive" has several views of the exterior.

10900 Research Boulevard
This strip center's largest tenant, suite D, hosted a Randalls from 1996 to February 2024. Randalls 2490 opened to functionally replace the Simon David at Arboretum Market and was one of the largest and most upscale Randalls stores in the Austin area when it opened, but ultimately closed down to underperformance.

When it closed, there was some hand-wringing on RetailWatchers as it was the closest to the size that Kroger would've wanted to convert (this was during the merger era) and expressed question if Kroger even wanted the Austin area. (They didn't. They ended up closing delivery in Austin within a few months.)

Rudy's Country Store and Bar-B-Q / 11570 Research Boulevard
This Rudy's BBQ location opened in 1994. It has a gas station in front (currently a Shell, though it might've been Texaco originally). I do not know what the structure on the south side of the property is or used for.

Academy Sports + Outdoors / 12250 Research Boulevard
Academy moved here in 2001 from 11570 Research Boulevard. This was originally a Wal-Mart (Austin's first, actually) from 1988 to 1997. It moved to 13201 FM 620 Road North with a new Supercenter.

12636 Research Blvd.
This three-building property (building C has two levels) but I wanted to focus on suite A-110. This was Mongolian Grille (link goes to YouTube commercial) from 2001 to 2012. I ate there in 2004 and for a long time was trying to figure out where and what it was.

Since then, it was replaced with the similar restaurant Mongo Fire (until around 2018) and has been an Indian restaurant since. Chicha's Fire And Grill opened by the end of 2018 but reused Mongo Fire's awnings (including their website and phone number). Around 2020, this closed and was replaced by India Gate. Prior to Mongolian Grille, it was "Cafe Chino" (Chinese restaurant, 1989-2001, mentioned in this article).

H-E-B / 12860 Research Boulevard
This opened as a Tom Thumb in 1981 and was sold to Albertsons (as store #4018) in 1989. In 2007, the store was sold again to H-E-B. Under Albertsons, there was a minor expansion to the north side. A Jim's in the parking lot (12832 Research Blvd.) has been there since 1982. ---

Cover 2 / 13701 Research Blvd.
This was originally built as a Black-eyed Pea in 1997 but closed in 2001 before it became Hooters (2004 to January 2012, likely closed in late 2011), and since the early 2010s has been Cover 2.

Antoine Drive in Houston (Houston, Texas)

Once again we're looking at a legacy Carbon-izer section transformed and updated for Numbered Exits. This concerns Antoine Drive, which goes from Spears Road (it becomes Spears Road afterward) south toward Memorial Drive (just past Katy Freeway). This page takes those entries on Carbon-izer (mostly from this page) and adds a few ones. It does not include H-E-B Pantry Foods #309 at 5815 Antoine Drive.

Ranchero King Buffet / 1010 Antoine Drive
Built in the mid-1990s in the IKEA parking lot as SteaKountry Buffet, which offered American and Mexican dishes (always Mexican, even advertising in a Spanish-language section in the Houston Chronicle in 1997) but by 2017 was serving exclusively Mexican dishes. By 2018 it was Ranchero King Buffet, but whether this was a name change or an entirely new restaurant has yet to be determined. The IKEA across the street replaced its old location (which started out as STØR) but replaced an apartment complex (1002 Antoine) which despite extensive research I couldn't find a name for. 1020 Antoine, however, remained until the store was rebuilt in the early 2000s. This was a strip center; one of the old listings has Supercuts as one of the tenants (Suite C).

AutoZone / 5121 Antoine Drive
Former Long John Silver's 1976-1999 and later home to Little Casita Mexican Restaurant (2003-2006). The building was demolished for an AutoZone around 2007. (Little Casita moved to 5137).

5151-5153 Antoine Drive
This was a Kroger ("Superstore" model, store 160) from 1975 to around the mid-2000s (Fallas Paredes leased part of the store in February 2007, so it was closed by then). By April 2008 this was divided between Fallas Paredes and 99 Cent Only Stores (with a "Watermill Express" water kiosk in the parking lot). By 2015, this was now a vacancy on the south end of the store, YouFit Health Clubs, and King Dollar on the north end. This arrangement would be kept until 2020, and by 2022 the entire building was vacant again before Value Village opened a store in the former King Dollar later that year. March 2023 brought the opening of a Gordon Food Service Store (from their distribution center down the street, see further down this page).

It should be noted that Fallas Paredes and YouFit used the 5151 Antoine name, while 99 Cent/King Dollar/Value Village, despite having the smaller store space, used the numbering from Kroger.

House of Fries / 5322 Antoine Drive
This started out as Kentucky Fried Chicken (1973-1998) and was mostly abandoned (except for a few one-offs that may or may not have existed). Around 2009-2010 was La Seafood and Wings and in 2011 assumed its current tenant.

AkzoNobel - Houston Plant / 6001 Antoine Drive
This facility was built in the late 1960s as an annex to Matcote Co. Inc., a Houston-based protective coatings company which had a small facility at 5810 North Houston Rosslyn Road, which soon moved to this location (it is unknown when they closed the North Houston Rosslyn Road facility) and expanded again in the early 1970s.

A 1979 article goes a bit more into detail what Matcote did, which was not make paint but rather protective coatings for industrial use. In 1980, Matcote was purchased by UK-based Courtaulds d/b/a International Paint, but expanded the facility, adding another warehouse in 1982 and in 1985 opening a powder coating facility. During this time the Matcote name disappeared and was replaced with the Courtaulds Coatings name through the 1990s (following a reorganization at Courtaulds that spun off its textile business). In 1998, Courtaulds merged with Dutch-based AkzoNobel and the plant reverted to the International Paint name again, though the plant has been branded as AkzoNobel since at least 2007. The property also incorporates 5903 Antoine Drive—a former site of Monterey House (later Monterey's Tex-Mex Cafe) from 1981 to 1994 and ultimately torn down for parking for what is now AzkoNobel.

Island Dental / 6206 Antoine Drive
Grandy's (#2061) was here from 1984 to 1997; sometime in the following decade after that it became this dental office.

Foodarama / 7320 Antoine Drive
While it faces Victory Drive, Foodarama #22 has been here since it moved from 8007 Antoine. It used to be Randalls #34 from 1985 to 2005. Houston Historic Retail has this covered in more detail.

dd's Discounts / 8007 Antoine Drive
This started out as an Eagle Discount Supermarket (owned by Lucky Stores) before pulling out in the mid-1980s and later served as Foodarama before it moved in 2006 to the former Randalls at 7320 Antoine.

Flounder / 8831 Antoine Drive
Built ~2008 as Hartz Chicken Buffet, became Fish Place by 2014 (co-branded with Eskimo Hut?) and by 2015, Louisiana Famous Fried Chicken & Seafood. Sometime during 2018 it became MVP Seafood, which soon gave way by October 2019 to Smoken J's BBQ. In 2023 or 2024 it became Flounder, a fried seafood restaurant.

Gordon Food Service - Houston Distribution Center / 11303 Antoine Drive
This was built as the new consolidated home of local company Glazier Food Company in 2005, but in 2014, national company Gordon Food Service acquired the company and rebranded it. In 2023, they opened up their own grocery stores in the Houston area.

Scottish Inns & Suites / 11233 Antoine Drive
Scottish Inns & Suites Houston Willowbrook opened in 2020.

That's all we have right now. Future entries may likely be added as stand-alone entries...

Davis Street in Conroe (Conroe, Texas)

As we continue to process through Carbon-izer.com's legacy entries, let me introduce Highway 105 to you, once a beloved fixture of Christmas vacation trips as my family passed through it. Based on the Montgomery Co. page on Carbon-izer.com, there's a few items of interest to share. Unlike the Carbon-izer page, it lacks the Home Depot Distribution Center at Porter Road as it has already been covered. It also does not mention the Shell/McDonald's in Lake Conroe (that's for a separate entry). This version does add a few new entries not on Carbon-izer, though...

Wake Church / 3830 West Davis Street
Albertsons (original number unknown but re-numbered as #2734 in the late 1990s) opened here in fall 1996 and was purchased and rebranded as Kroger in spring 2002 when the chain pulled out of the Houston area. The classic Kroger logo disappeared in favor of block lettering a few years later. It closed in 2017 due to a new Kroger Marketplace in Montgomery, probably likely because Kroger already had a Signature store just over a mile away. The space was purchased, renovated, and reopened as Wake Church in 2022. When this space was a supermarket, it also had a gas station in the parking lot that was later demolished.

Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers / 2127 West Davis Street
James Coney Island opened a store here in December 2004 but at some point, probably late 2013 or January 2014 at the very latest, James Coney Island closed.

Unusually for the chain, replacement tenant Raising Cane's renovated it instead of building new, and as a result, when it reopened as Raising Cane's in June 2014, it was the biggest Raising Cane's in the country, though not by much (according to the website, which used to post opening dates and tidbits about each restaurant).

The Catch / 2121 West Davis Street
This was Taco Bueno from 2007 to 2012, then became Einstein Bros. Bagels (opened early 2013 or late 2012). This ended up closing in February 2015 due to underperformance and became a seafood restaurant soon afterward.

1306 West Davis Street
Originally a Randalls supermarket (lasting just three years, roughly from fall 2002 to fall 2005), this later became Hastings, a chain store specializing in music, movies, books, and games. At some point, Gold's Gym moved into the unused space that Hastings didn't use, and after Hastings closed in fall 2016, Gold's Gym continued to stay here. Current tenants include Party City (as of this writing soon to close because of the chain's bankruptcy), 2nd & Charles, and Fitness Project.

904 W. Davis Street
This used to be a Kettle restaurant (#22, 1974 to around 2010). It was later Conroe Café and ultimately El Charrito Restaurant before being redeveloped as a 7-Eleven (opened 2020). In 2024 this closed. For some reason 7-Eleven is struggling in the Houston area.

Fiesta Mart / 210 East Davis Street
This Fiesta Mart (#81) is branded as "Fiesta Fresh Market" and opened in November 2013 and only at 22k square feet. It still has the deli and bakery and displaced the Smith's Tire Shop, which had been there since 1966. Moore Furniture (on the East Phillips) side was also torn down.

Tierra Cuscatleca / 402 East Davis Street
This was Tinsley's from 1968 to 1985, Church's 1985 to 1997, and "Taco Loco" 2001-2002. In the late 2000s and early 2010s it was Taqueria & Panaderia San Luis, then Taqueria La Mision, then starting around 2020 Tierra Cuscatleca.

Speedy Stop / 3900 East Davis Street
A Chevron was here and demolished in 2017, having been abandoned for over a decade (the classic Chevron dark blue/red/gray). In 2020, a Speedy Stop (Speedy Stop #88)/Mobil was built here (the Mobil gas was dropped around 2023 for the Speedy Stop brand). The new gas station faces 105 instead of facing directly toward the intersection like the old one did.

SW H.K. Dodgen Loop (Temple, Texas)

On this site we've previously covered Cactus Jack's (RIP) and 1902 SW H K Dodgen Loop (former Olive Garden/Yank Sing Chinese Restaurant) but now I'd like to cover the rest of the entries that I previously posted on Carbon-izer which started as a dedicated page but later expanded for other Temple-Killeen entries. I went through and made sure everything up to date as of this writing. Additionally, it removes stuff that doesn't have an SW H K Dodgen address, like Bob Mills Furniture, Kohl's, Temple Mall, and the Baylor Scott & White Clinic-South Loop.

In any case, I have some fond memories of this stretch of road, including its circa 2009 re-do which converted it from a divided highway with spotty frontage roads to a modern Interstate-grade freeway, though after the South 5th Street underpass this abruptly ends. I'm afraid I don't have any pictures for this post, either, though do check out Sunny's...and also please visit the I-35 in Temple page which will be updated in the future.

Keep in mind that this is far from a "complete" directory of the freeway, but it covers a number of highlights.

Jack in the Box / 3608 SW H K Dodgen Loop
Jack in the Box was originally at 3606 until the highway was widened to be a full freeway in this section, and the original had to be demolished. The current restaurant was built in 2006.

McAlister's Deli / 2416 S.W. H.K. Dodgen Loop
A former Fazoli's that operated roughly from 2003 to 2014. It sits in the parking of Temple Towne Center, see the PDF here, McAlister's moved here in early 2021 from the shopping center.

Smile Doctors Braces / 2113 SW H K Dodgen Loop
This dental office is in a former Golden Corral, operated roughly from 1995 to 2011 (appears to be a gap before the new Golden Corral was built in 2013 on I-35). Royal Buffet (Chinese buffet) operated from 2013 to 2014 with some modifications to the entrances, but by April 2015 it was Central Texas Smile Doctors (rebranded to its current name between 2018 and 2019).

Applebee's / 1808 SW H K Dodgen Loop
Applebee's has been a fixture of HK Dodgen Loop since 1993.

Casa Olé / 1712 SW H K Dodgen Loop
This opened as Monterey House, later converted to Monterey's Tex-Mex Cafe and ultimately Monterey's Little Mexico. In 2024, parent company Mexican Restaurants, Inc. shut down Monterey's Little Mexico and soon reopened it as their other brand, Casa Olé, moving from Temple Mall.

Taqueria Mexicano Restaurant & Grill / 1704 SW H K Dodgen Loop
Also known as Taqueria Mexicano Grille #2, this restaurant has been here since 2001. Previous restaurants on record include Leo's Coffee Cafe (2000-2001), Keith's R-B Shack (1998), Flashback Barbecue (1996-1998), and Vittlesticks (1994-1995).

Meeboon Thai Cuisine / 1521 SW H K Dodgen Loop
This restaurant has been here since November 2021 (former food truck) but the site suffers from access problems, with no entrance from either the "MarketPlace" shopping center's parking lot, nor Market Loop. The most recent restaurant here, Rice Etc. Asian Kitchen, operated from 2013 to 2021. Other former restaurants here include New Baytown Seafood Express (2007-2013) and Popeyes (1995 to roughly 2006).

Denny's / 1420 SW H K Dodgen Loop
This former Mazzio's maintained their old 1980s logo into the late 2000s. A Facebook question asks why it closed so abruptly, and that's dated to November 2013. Another restaurant, Bay Street Steak & Grille, opened here in November 2018 but closed by the next summer. The new Denny's opened in fall 2020 and is the first in Temple since the one off I-35 (the old Kettle) closed. (See Carbon-izer's I-35 in Bell County page).

Whataburger / 1415 SW H K Dodgen Loop
I remember stopping at this Whataburger sometime in late 2016 or early 2017 after a day of outside work at a ranch. While the cold drink and the protein of the hamburger revived my spirits, I was intrigued by the large, "Playplace" part of the building, as if it had a playground at one point. The room was closed to the public (it was used as employee offices/storage, apparently) and while the thought of Whataburger having a playground wasn't out of the question (I seem to recall a kid's meal mascot, for instance) it hadn't actually occurred to me that it was in fact not a Whataburger to begin with, having been a Burger King opened in 1999 but closed within a decade. It was seized by U.S. Marshals in November 2004 (it did not reopen) and in November 2007 was reopened as a Whataburger. Before Whataburger was built, a Pizza Hut was here from 1991 to 1997.

Wendy's / 1348 SW H.K. Dodgen Loop
This Wendy's was built in 2006 as part of a redevelopment of the block.

Starbucks / 1313 SW H K Dodgen Loop
This Starbucks was opened as a Golden Chick (Golden Fried Chicken) in 1999 and became Starbucks Coffee in April 2004 (probably closing as Golden Chick in late 2003).

Taco Bell / 1201 SW H K Dodgen Loop
The Taco Bell here changed its store number (2308) and address (3002 South 31st Street, the number of the whole plaza) in 2014 to the Dodgen Loop address and a new store number (30125) without rebuilding. Despite looking nothing like the original 1983 store, BCAD indicates the building is original to 1983 (though it likely expanded if that was the case, and the building does tend to suggest that).

Lowe's / 605 S.W. HK Dodgen Loop
The Lowe's here opened in June 1996 and adjacent to its own named road, Lowes Drive, which actually goes into residential neighborhoods and has several houses off of it.

The Barrington / 401 S.W. H. K. Dodgen Loop
The Barrington Suites and Apartments (opened 1984) sounds like it could be a winner in theory, with its close-to-Scott & White location for long-term (month) stays but reviews are mixed. It does not seem to really run with the idea of a motel/apartment hybrid, there's a shared pool but no on-site restaurant/coffee shop (which it desperately needs).

Red Roof Inn / 400 SW H K Dodgen Loop
This motel adopted this name between 2018 and 2019 (formerly Great Western Inn & Suites). At some point between 1995 and 2003, half of the lobby was torn down, probably due to a fire. It lacks access to the side street South 13th Street.

Sunny's / 321 SW HK Dodgen Loop
I'm not sure if it's related to the Sunny's convenience stores in Houston (in fact, I'm not sure if the Houston stores are related to each other) but this gas station, formerly a Mobil, converted to a generic gas station that basically resembles an ersatz Exxon with yellow instead of red, almost like a royalty-free version of more famous brands.

Saigon Cafe / 220 SW HK Dodgen Loop
This restaurant has been Saigon Cafe since 2010. Other restaurants here included Mulligan's Grill (1988-1989), Emperors of China (1992-1993), and Mr. Fajita's Buffet (1994-2004). In the early 2010s I visited it with my brother and father as Saigon Cafe. At the time I thought it was pretty good but otherwise I can't remember much of it, including what I actually ordered. The highway ends here, even though there's a stoplight at Veterans Memorial. It used to have ramps and flyovers, though in both directions, Loop 363 was effectively squeezed into one lane for the bypass part. Even now, the left lane of the freeway becomes a left hand turn lane. At the southwest corner of the intersection is Everest Rehabilitation Hospital with an SE H K Dodgen Loop address...but that's for another post.

Fiesta Mart #17 (Houston, Texas)

Fiesta at night (2017). This is from Google and "Yelper Lou MC". Not mine, fair use.
As part of the on-going reorganization of some of the stuff I've written for Carbon-izer, I wanted to bring up the former Fiesta Mart at 4200 San Jacinto Street in Houston, Texas.

My fondest memories of the former Fiesta Mart #17 (45k square feet) was in 2014 with its distinctive "marquee" facade that lit up the night, and even in 2014 that felt quaint and a reminder of a different time (though it did open in 1988, there were other places from my past that weren't nearly as old as I thought they were). In any case, this Fiesta closed in July 2020. The closure of Fiesta was met by dismay by the neighborhood but there were several problems, including Fiesta's new ownership remerchandising and modernizing the chain, the large homeless population that milled around the area and intimidated shoppers (sometime in 2019 a fence was erected around the property with a gate that closed nightly), the new H-E-B at McGregor Road, and most importantly--the fact that it was connected to Sears' ownership. The store had opened as a supermarket complement to Sears on land it owned formerly used for parking. When Sears closed the store in the late 2010s and handed it over to Rice, Fiesta was on borrowed time and eventually the lease ran out and was not renewed. With the former Sears becoming the core of the new "Innovation District", the former Fiesta reopened as Greentown Labs, a clean energy business incubator. It should also be noted that since at least 2007 to its closure it had a Church's Chicken inside.
Update: I have been informed that the land was originally Rice's, Sears leased it long-term.