Bagby Quik Pak (Waco, Texas)

Picture courtesy MCAD from 2003. As I continue to change things around in Carbon-izer, it's time for another Waco story (originally seen on this page). Quik Pak opened its gas station and convenience store at 5601 Bagby Avenue and Loop 340 sometime around 1997-1998 when this was a somewhat isolated area, and I have fond memories of the store being here (looking like the picture above) from when the way to get to my grandfather's new house (he lived in Waco before, but he moved over five miles away as I got to see a different side of Bagby Avenue en route to the new place, an emptier, newer side, as it was before the major developments Central Texas Marketplace or Legends Crossing, or reconstructing the interchange at I-35. By late 2007, it was a Chevron/CEFCO. Quik Pak had switched brands to Chevron by 2006 (when Citgo pulled out of Waco) and they sold most of their stores to CEFCO that year. (1702 West Spring Valley Road was the exception and was sold later).

In December 2021, CEFCO opened a new store at 6201 Bagby Avenue less than a mile away. By early 2026, this was Waco's first Casey's, while Casey's has kept this CEFCO here for now (likely staying as such since it's a smaller store).

Lacy-Lakeview Safeway (Lacy-Lakeview, Texas)

Picture courtesy MCAD, used with permission.
Depicted above is the original Safeway of the Lacy-Lakeview area, originally with its address (at least according to tax records) as 110 E. Loop 340, and operated as a Safeway from 1976 to 1986. In 1986, the Safeway moved directly next door (you can see part of the supermarket building to the right) with the address of Safeway being 4501 Interstate 35 and this one being 4501 Interstate 35 North, and in 1990 reopened as Schulman 6 Lacy-Lakeview. In 2000, this theater closed and around 2014, the long-vacant building was torn down. Construction on the new plaza (originally Providence, later Ascension) began soon after, and opened in May 2017 as the Lacy-Lakeview Medical Plaza with a new address, 1130 N. Loop 340.

Meanwhile, the Safeway operated until 1989 when it was rebranded as AppleTree, and in 1992 the store (along with the other AppleTree in Waco at the time) was sold to Winn-Dixie, with AppleTree closing in July and reopening as Winn-Dixie a few months later. This was closed in 2002 when Winn-Dixie pulled out of the state. There it idled vacant (like the theater) for close to a decade until Atwoods finished its own remodel of the store and opened in January 2011. Atwoods (and the grocery stores before it) was 46,000 square feet but in 2021 Atwoods began an expansion that took the store up to 62,000 square feet.

This article's contents originally appeared on Carbon-izer.com.

Former Monterey House in Temple (Temple, Texas)

Picture from Loopnet showing a bit of 1704 as well.
Temple's current Casa Olé was originally built as famed Tex-Mex restaurant chain Monterey House back in 1977 (#57) with the address of 2108 Glendale Drive, one of the "pre-unification" addresses for SW H.K. Dodgen Loop (much like Saigon Cafe previously discussed.¹ Later on, this converted to Monterey's Tex-Mex Cafe around the late 1980s or early 1990s (discussed on this page, see "Free Star Plaza / 10515 Northwest Freeway") 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, which moved from Temple Mall (see Carbon-izer).²

Even as of January 2026, the rebranding was clearly done on a budget, with only a Casa Olé banner to the side of the restaurant.

1. That article was also part of the dismantling of this page.
2. There is also a Numbered Exits post but I provided the direct link.
UPDATE 05-13-2026: Removed Taqueria Mexicano as part of bringing back Carbon-izer page. Also linked to Temple Mall.

Saigon Cafe (Temple, Texas)

I like the little marquee lights on the sign, though I don't think they do patterns, at least, not anymore. (Google Maps Street View)
I'm back with another entry ripped and slightly updated from the SW HK Dodgen Loop page (as of this writing), 220 SW H.K. Dodgen Loop. Located on the opposite side of Fryers Creek Lane from Cactus Jack's, this has been Saigon Cafe since 2010. Other restaurants here included Mulligan's Grill (1980-1989), Emperors of China (1992-1993), and Mr. Fajita's Buffet (1994-2004). The signage for Mr. Fajita's Buffet stuck around for several years after it closed, and it originally had the address of 520 Ramada Drive (at some point this and one other got changed to SW HK Dodgen).

At the time I thought it was pretty good but otherwise I can't remember much of it, including what I actually ordered....

Target on Sanger Avenue (Waco, Texas)

Picture courtesy McLennan CAD
This is from Carbon-izer from a page that is soon to be revamped. Former Target store opened in October 1981 (T-155) and closed in 2003 with a new Target Greatland about two miles away. It has since been renovated into a variety of medical offices (Six West Medical Center).