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.