Smile Doctors Braces (Temple, Texas)

This picture is from Loopnet.
While some of the addresses along S.W. H K Dodgen Loop previously had different addresses, Golden Corral (2113 SW H K Dodgen Loop) appears to one of the restaurants that was built afterwards (and nothing there before it). Well, it was a Golden Corral at least, operating roughly from 1995 to 2011...and closing a few years before a new Golden Corral was built in 2013 on I-35. In 2013 a Chinese buffet, Royal Buffet, opened, and modified some of the entrances, but by the end of 2014 it was closed, and by April 2015, it was Central Texas Smile Doctors, which rebranded to "Smile Doctors Braces" between 2018 and 2019). This entry previously appeared at this page.

Pantego Del Taco (Pantego, Texas)

This Dairy Queen looks a little off... (source)
This restaurant in Pantego (Dallas), Texas is currently vacant, and has been a variety of restaurants since. It was built around 1978 as Del Taco until around 1989 when Del Taco shuttered its Texas locations. Afterwards, it was a restaurant called Burger Street (until around 1997), then a 1950s-style restaurant called Fabulous 50s, and then, for a brief period in the early 2010s Del Taco once more when the company embarked on a (sadly failed) plan to re-enter Texas (they only made it to ONE STORE in Houston), and then a modern "DQ" Dairy Queen, which closed in 2025 as the second round of closures of failed franchisee Project Lonestar. It is located at 2424 West Park Row Drive.

Towne Center North (Conroe, Texas)

From Loopnet (source).
As we continue to dismantle this page, we take a look at the "Towne Center North" strip center. The main anchor here, 1306 West Davis Street, was originally a Randalls supermarket (lasting just three years, roughly from fall 2002 to fall 2005)¹, 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 2nd & Charles, and Planet Fitness (which replaced Fitness Project) and a vacancy that used to hold Party City before their bankruptcy. The other buildings here have separate addresses. 1302 W. Davis Street as of May 2024 featured Stellar Bank (A), Leslie's Pool Supplies (B), OneMain Financial (C), Panera Bread (D), and a vacancy (E). Panera Bread closed in August 2025 with the failure of franchisee EYM Cafe. In 2008, the bank space was vacant, Citi Financial was there instead of OneMain Financial, Leslie's and Panera Bread were still there, and E was a Sears Home Appliance Showroom (this closed in the late 2010s), while 1304 from north to south, as of May 2024, we have Trinity Dental (A), Milan Laser Hair Removal (B, home of TGF Haircutters circa 2008), vacancy (Check N Go as of 2008, C), F&H Supplements (D), Vivid Nails (E), Spec's Liquor (F), Tune Up The Manly Salon (G, RadioShack as of 2008), and FedEx Office (H, FedEx Kinko's, formerly). 1308 features Panda Express and Verizon, though this was built between 2008 and 2013.

1. This relocated from a different location in Conroe.

CEFCO Travel Center #48 (Temple, Texas)

From Google Maps Street View with some extra saturation.
This truck stop appears to date back to 2000 as "Southwest Travel Centers" with a Wendy's, with CEFCO taking over around 2001 as store #48, with the address of 12310 NW H.K. Dodgen Loop. It was a Shell (though likely a Texaco prior to 2003) and converted to the CEFCO brand between September 2019 and spring 2021. Most other CEFCO stores had converted back around 2016.

I had previously written about this on Carbon-izer, though there needs to have some updates made. The Wendy's was still there as of March 2025 but I'm afraid I didn't check it in December 2025 when I was there at that intersection, but as of March 2026 it is reported closed, presumably because Casey's wants to convert CEFCO to their own thing.

Plum Creek Plaza (Lockhart, Texas)

As I'm trying to phase out other pages quickly, this is only from Realnex.
Plum Creek Plaza (1710 S. Colorado Street) is a small strip center in Lockhart, Texas that is signal-controlled to the former Wal-Mart across the street (now government offices) and US-183. It's an unremarkable brick shopping center built in the mid-1980s (until it was painted white at some point between 2019 and 2020) and as of 2022 contains Security Finance (suite 101), PAM Health Rehabilitation Clinic of Lockhart (suite 102, formerly the home of Hibbett Sports in the late 2010s), Anytime Fitness (ste. 105), Beauty Nails & Hair (ste. 106), China Palace (ste. 107), Factory Connection (ste. 112, since closed), and Guadalajara Mexican Restaurant (ste. 114). Also of note is two outlots in front of the building.

There's an Exxon (1706 S. Colorado Street), which 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. It became an Exxon a few years later. The convenience store is unbranded, as of 2023 you could still see the scar of the old Diamond Shamrock-era Corner Store logo, though it's a little harder to see now due to a repaint. The Verizon store (1904 S. Colorado Street) out front next to the Exxon opened in 2011. From 2003 to around 2010 it was a Jack in the Box restaurant.

There's not too many entries left on the Lockhart post as of this writing and will continue to shrink.

Louie Mack's (Lakeland, Florida)

Louie Mack's in its vacant days (Loopnet) Louie Mack's opened in June 2006 at 5700 South Florida Avenue, after months of delays and the restaurant was one of Lakeland's largest (at more than 10,000 square feet) and upscale steakhouses, hoping to compete with Charley's Steak House and Ruth's Chris Steak House, neither of which had Lakeland locations.

Unfortunately, Louie Mack's wasn't a big success. It opened to fairly average reviews and likely had to be retooled several times to be more affordable, ultimately shuttering in 2014 despite (or because of) the efforts of new management.¹ The last month of Louie Mack's saw it closed for a few days for finding live cockroaches in the kitchen.

It would remain vacant for nearly a decade before reopening as Sushi Masa in 2023.

1. The second page of the article can be found here.

Temple Towne Center (Temple, Texas)

Many Staples stores have closed over the years, but this one still remains. (From the PDF linked below). I haven't done a deep dive into this shopping center yet. From what I can piece together it replaced a smaller shopping center anchored by Winn-Dixie around 2001, but no parts of the original center remain. The circa 2021 PDF I have on file features all of the junior anchors that are still there now (except for Bed Bath & Beyond getting replaced with HomeGoods) and McAlister's Deli moving from its strip mall spot to a stand-alone location at 2416 S.W. H.K. Dodgen Loop. This used to be a Fazoli's that was there from 2003 to 2014. Other than that the anchors seem to be pretty consistent. There's, from left to right, Staples, Shoe Carnival, Ross Dress for Less, Marshalls, HomeGoods, Ulta Beauty, Five Below (these two I believe were originally Goody's Family Clothing), Bath & Body Works (moved from the mall, used to be Rue21 Etc.), Petco, smaller stores, and Hobby Lobby.

The problem is that Temple is relatively poorly documented and when more information comes up I'll add it to this post. It probably wouldn't be covered at all if I had not vowed to dismantle this post.