May 18th marked the 5th birthday of Houston Historic Retail, The site existed a few years prior as a free WordPress blog. Some readers have been here since day one and I thank you all for your unending support.
Welcome back loyal reader! With the ongoing COVID crisis I haven’t really had any chances to get out and take that many photos. I have made some updates, like new photos of West Oaks Mall, and HEB Pantry Foods, along with new pages like Sunniland Furniture and Luther’s Bar-B-Q. One of the few trips I have taken during this time was out to Shiner, Texas to pick up some custom made masks. On the way there, my wife and I decided to stop in Halletsville for lunch. This was when dine-in was still banned.
Our first choice was Sonic, but we sadly found it out of business.Next on this list was Subway but we found it closed too.Moving forward it looked like even more of the town was closed. This Courthouse Annex started life as a Stanley Supermarket location.After Stanley’s bankruptcy this store was eventually sold to Godwin’s. At some point the county took over the majority of the building, and it looks like the former Subway is next.Driving up the road a bit we eventually saw some signs of like in the form of a Brookshire Brothers and a Division 1 Walmart located side by side.It’s rare enough to find a non supercenter still operating in a town big enough for a full line grocery store. Even more rare was the unprotected Garden Center in the parking lot. Most stores discontinued the use of parking lot garden centers, and the few that keep them only operate seasonally and with a barrier to prevent theft.The Brookshire Brothers location was even big enough to maintain a Connoco with a tiny C-StoreHeading back into town we ended up stopping at Dairy Queen which we had avoided because of the line. In retrospect the line was due to the fact that DQ was basically the only option.Past the classic 3 pole design, this DQ had something unusual about it. Can you spot it?This DQ has a second window! Not just has, but uses. It was tiny and was very obviously created by removing only a few bricks.Upon finally reach Shiner, I didn’t find much of interest to photograph. Although we really just grazed the town. One neat thing was this Subway Cafe, which means they sell extra items, this one also sells Mama Deluca Pizza.
While it wasn’t the grandiose trip we wished for, Shiner was a nice drive out into the country. I have some back-loaded blog posts that will likely be appearing soon. In addition to those keep your eyes out for some themed posts. Until next time loyal reader!
The Brookshire Bros./Wal-Mart combo can be seen still in Caldwell, and most BB stores have a Conoco (which I admittedly haven’t seen very many of beyond BB). The Madisonville store has a Conoco too but the building is split between BB and Dollar General (may have been one tenant originally).
Godwin’s is another curiosity, it had stores in Hearne and Madisonville, then those became “Hearne Supermarket” and “Madisonville Supermarket” for a few years (even into the very early 2010s) before closing. The stores were really tiny, like 20k square feet.
The Brookshire Bros./Wal-Mart combo can be seen still in Caldwell, and most BB stores have a Conoco (which I admittedly haven’t seen very many of beyond BB). The Madisonville store has a Conoco too but the building is split between BB and Dollar General (may have been one tenant originally).
Godwin’s is another curiosity, it had stores in Hearne and Madisonville, then those became “Hearne Supermarket” and “Madisonville Supermarket” for a few years (even into the very early 2010s) before closing. The stores were really tiny, like 20k square feet.
Happy blogiversary!
Thank you!
You’re welcome!