Shell Express (Navasota, Texas)

Dithered for style reasons and to cover up Google Street View's inadequacies
As previously discussed, this is another "breakup" post, this time tackling this page. The main subject in question of this post is a Shell gas station at 9323 Highway 90.

Opened around 1999 (as Texaco, changed in 2003) with a Popeyes and Domino's Pizza inside the store, and advertising both on the store (a "sign split" with Popeyes, and Domino's located mid-way down), the Popeyes sign has since been removed from the roadside signage (but still exists--likely because they didn't want to change it to the newer "Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen" signage) while the Domino's closed in summer 2012 (I knew someone that worked there--a combination of Pizza Hut being next door and in the area for decades and their location in a back of a gas station was hard to deal with in a small town like Navasota). Next door is the Pizza Hut in question, having moved to 9305 Highway 90 around 2001 from an older location closer to downtown. Next to it is Sonic Drive-In (9249 Highway 90), which also moved from an older location around 1999 (previously at 814 S. LaSalle Street, which is no more—I can't tell what it was afterward, this blurry 2007 view seems to indicate "Market Square" or something like that.

Meanwhile, the Domino's was replaced with Sum-Yum Chinese Food in 2016, but it closed in October 2024 (archive).

Fiesta Fresh Market (Conroe, Texas)

This is from Google Maps Street View but I've decided to capture it in 16:9 to show all the details.
Fiesta Mart has gone through various merchandising and ideas over the years, including just being a supermarket focused on Hispanic foods, to being a low-price leader, to having interesting store concepts that rival Randalls and Kroger, to exploring new concepts and formats. Fiesta #81, originally branded as "Fiesta Fresh Market" was one of the last "original" Fiesta stores under the original ownership (the link talks about Fiesta #82) and was one of these concept stores. Opening in Conroe in November 2013, it was far smaller than most of the stores in the chain and was basically designed as a "specialty" Fiesta with a deli and bakery fit among its 22,000 square feet of space. Located at 210 East Davis Street it is near downtown Conroe and required a redevelopment of the block.

The buildings that were demolished included Smith's Tire & Lube (202 East Davis Street), Moore Furniture (105 E. Philips Street), and the vacant Heilig-Meyers Furniture (110 E. Philips Street, which closed in 2001).

Smith's had been there for a long time, it was built in 1966 as Smith's Mobil, became a Texaco in 1973, and shuttered in 1990 (moving to I-45), reopening as Smith's Tire & Lube in 1991. Heilig-Meyers Furniture is a visibly old building that dates back decades (1950s or 1960s but I haven't found much on it).

The logo wasn't the only thing that new ownership changed, in a nod to both older roadside attractions and in some way's Fiesta's own past, a blinking light marquee was at ground level near the entrance. This went away between 2017 and 2018.

I have not personally been to this store, unfortunately, but I remember reading about it and thinking that it was a good idea since I remember the Fiesta bakery being great--telera rolls, dirt-cheap apple fritters (25 cents, even in 2014), and a bunch of other stuff. These days probably not so much...

This entry is an expanded version of what originally appeared on this page ("Davis Street in Conroe").

Abandoned Exprezit! Store (Quincy, Florida)

Can you see the gas station through the weeds? (Picture by author, August 2025)
A few years ago I was delighted to find that someone had taken a picture of an Exprezit gas station and convenience store. It wasn't the same store my family stopped in December 2003 (yes, a week or so before the picture in Marianna was taken by Tod Allen). I'm pretty sure some Exprezit! stores even made to Louisiana (some were planned for South Texas circa 2006) but a few years later they disappeared as quickly as they came, with only a few camped out in their home of North Carolina, despite once having sizable Florida presence (reduced to maybe one store in Florida today).

This Exprezit store escaped being rebranded (many are BP or 76 today) because it closed a while back, not even on the 2006 locator list, nor on a 1999 list (guess it purchased it and closed in that timeframe). It's an old gas station, too, dating to around the 1980s and in 1994 was a Texaco advertising t-shirts and ice cream; however, the convenience store name is too hard to see in that photo. Looking through old Google Earth images no cars appear in it from 2005 on so I would suspect Exprezit kept the 43 Spooner Road location and abandoned it by that time, and it's been shut ever since. The long driveway (no dedicated left turn, even) likely discouraged travelers on I-10. I noticed it when I spotted the distinctive red, blue, and yellow Exprezit insignia and had to check it out, though it was gated off. Only in the last two years was the gas island canopy demolished so there has been some activity of some sort going on; I would guess it was for the early stages of a building renovation that never happened.

As I never got to go inside an Exprezit in their heyday, I have no idea what their draw was especially as they tried to expand west. Their stores were in old, pre-existing locations, tired by even 2002 standards, and didn't supplement them with trendy new restaurant co-brand locations as was in vogue in those days.

Thank you for reading! As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I will try to make a 50-50 mix of Carbon-izer or other legacy content mixed with entirely new content.

UPDATE 09-04-2025: The more I look at this location (2982 Pat Thomas Pkwy.) from the past, it looked like it could be a Stuckey's, between its offerings and logos. Indeed, it does seem to be listed here in a 1992 directory!