Carbon-izer Presents Interstate 35 in Hays County

INTERSTATE 35 IN HAYS COUNTY

Picking up from the end of I-35 in Austin and the southern section of Texas State Highway 45, the Austin metro continues to stretch down south into Hays County, where San Marcos is, after continuing through Buda and Kyle. Version 7.0 adds Starbucks (in Buda), Walmart (in Buda), Chick-fil-A (in Buda), Camper Clinic II, Valero (at Marlstone Trail), Costco Wholesale, Texas Roadhouse, The Lanes at Oslo, Outback Steakhouse (includes the old Bennigan's), and Cavender's Boot City (featuring a picture!).

Additionally, "Stonecreek Crossing" has been broken up into five entries, "14444 S. Interstate 45" has been merged into Shell (near Manchaca Springs), and some stuff has been updated in regards to the outlet malls' history. Other updated entries: Dairy Queen (renamed from "DQ" as part of manual of style), 1109 N. Interstate 35 (renamed from "Mucho Taco"--it closed), and Shell (San Marcos Truck Stop, minor).

STATE HIGHWAY 45 to KYLE CROSSING / WINDY HILL ROAD

This section covers Buda and other areas addressed as Buda.

Shell / 14500 S. Interstate 35
This Shell was originally a Texaco (changed to Shell presumably around 2003) and has been here since 1989. A restaurant space near the store (possibly added later) currently has "Abby's Mex Food".

A Chevron nearby at 14444 S. Interstate 45 operated from 1995 to 2014 and was converted into a diesel annex for Shell (with its own logo on the Chevron signage, with white on green). The Chevron's "Food Mart" building is still there but it's closed down.

Moon Valley Nurseries / 14620 S. I-35
This garden center and plant nursery (larger shrubs and trees only) opened in early 2020, reusing a small building that sat on a large lot. Previously, the space was home to Big Tex Trailers from 2010 to 2016, with a fireworks stand operating prior (according to the oldest Google Maps Street View).

Starbucks / 15295 Interstate 35
Buda's Starbucks location opened in February 2008 as per StarbucksEverywhere. It has a drive-through as per modern Starbucks stores.

Chevron / McDonald's / 15359 I-35
This combination Chevron/McDonald's opened in November 1999. Before the McDonald's side renovated to the "yellow eyebrow" prototype in the early 2010s, there was a playground in front of the store.

Pinballz Kingdom / 15201 S. I-35
From 1979 to 2005 this was the Dorsett 221 Truck Stop. I'm told the gas brand was a Shell before its closure. In 2014, it reopened as Pinballz Kingdom, an Austin-based bar with music and video games. The "Kingdom" name comes from the castle-style building Dorsett 221 Truck Stop had, and the "221" name Dorsett 221 Truck Stop was from the exit number (which doesn't exist anymore following construction projects). While Pinballz Kingdom did open in 2014 as this article states, nearly a decade later, there's no Phase II with mini-golf and go-karts yet.

The address should place it north of Main Street (the previous exit and the main road for Buda) but it is south of the road.

Even before its closure, Dorsett's was a bit of a time warp itself. It was a "rapidly-fading slice of Americana: the family-run truck stop, replete with chicken-fried steak, smoky dining rooms and odd characters coming and going at all hours" according to one newspaper.

Walmart / 690 Old San Antonio Road
This Walmart was built with other stores behind H-E-B and its adjacent strip center, opening in August 2006 (#4219 of course was originally branded as "Wal-Mart Supercenter").

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store / 550 County Road 117
Not long before Cracker Barrel broke ground, County Road 117 was a dirt road that connected directly to the frontage road from Main Street in Buda. This Cracker Barrel location opened in December 2005. To access County Road 117 now the quickest way is through the H-E-B parking lot or Cabela's.

Tractor Supply Co. / 15555 S I-35
TSC (#1600) opened in 2012 on a former road right-of-way (see "Speedy Stop") below.

Chick-fil-A / 15500 S. Interstate 35
Chick-fil-A opened in spring 2019. Like many of the restaurants around it, it was a pad site carved out of the vast parking lot of Cabela's.

Cabela's / 15570 S. I-35
Cabela's opened its hunting and fishing store (185k square feet) in June 2005. It still has some interesting features like a walk-through aquarium, but it basically functions like a smaller Bass Pro. There used to be a restaurant in the upper level but it has since closed and converted to additional retail space.

Crestview RV / 15700 S I-35
This RV dealership has part of its showroom across the street. This wasn't like this due to design; construction of Cabela's Drive bisected it. As of this writing, their footprint has been further reduced with Rylander Street, a new road connecting West Goforth Road with Cabela's Drive.

Burger King / 15705 S. I-35
The Buda Burger King (#17718) is next to the Speedy Stop. It opened in 2010.

Speedy Stop / 5065 Royston Road
Royston Road doesn't exist anymore (it's now part of Overpass Road) and connected I-35 to what is now Old Goforth Road (which extended past Overpass to the highway frontage road). The original Shell/Speedy Stop was torn down in October 2021 and reopened December 1, 2022. (The new gas station was self-branded as Speedy Stop). It originally opened in 1999 but expanded the canopy before it was demolished.

Camper Clinic II / 15855 S. I-35
Records show that this was originally "First RV of Buda" in 1994, which was little more than a dirt lot with RVs for sale. Even when Camper Clinic II took over in 2000, it was larger but not nearly the sprawling 13+ acre complex it is today. As for it being "Camper Clinic II", the original "Camper Clinic" was in Rockport, though in 2021 it was sold and rebranded.

Public Storage / 16091 S. I-35
This three-story self-storage facility was built in 2018. While it resembles newer "Public Storage" facilities, there's nothing special about it.

Valero / 16649 S. I-35
The "InstaFuel" station opened in March 2023, featuring "Sharks Burger" and check cashing. As of May 2023, signage has gone up for Taqueria Chapala.

Tuff Shed / 16806 S. I-35
Tuff Shed has been in this location since 2006. The building dates back to 1999.

QuikTrip / 1108 Robert S. Light Blvd.
According to Community Impact, the Buda QuikTrip (second in the county) opened May 31, 2022. As this is placed in the page above the other, slightly older QuikTrip (by a few years) and offers the same sort of variety and service, including a full kitchen with decent to-order sandwiches (and at a very reasonable price, at that).

United Rentals / 17600 I-35
This opened in 2008 Volvo Rents, which rebranded to BlueLine Rental in 2014 and was purchased by United Rentals in 2018, which rebranded it again around 2019.

Previously this was the site of an RV dealership (Interstate RV Center 1991-1998, Holiday World Austin South 1999-2003, Evergreen RV Austin South 2003-2007).

Valero / 18210 S. I-35
This was originally Sac-N-Pac in 1997, then Stripes in 2015, then 7-Eleven in 2019. The gas station brand was probably originally a Diamond Shamrock.

Kyle Chapman Motor Sales / 18300 S. I-35
Kyle Chapman Motors has two other locations--one in San Marcos and in Austin. This location opened in 2012. Previously it was an Exxon with Sac-N-Pac (despite another Sac-N-Pac being across the street, co-existing since the late 1990s) and a liquor store, R&R Liquors. The entire gas station closed around 2012 and the gas station component (canopy + tanks) was torn down soon after.

A few years after Kyle Chapman Motor Sales, an additional building was built behind the former convenience store building.

Burger King / 18600 IH-35
Burger King #12220 opened in 1999. Despite a renovation inside and out, it still has an enclosed playscape inside. There's also records that go back to 1996 for another Burger King supposedly in the area ("3799 IH 35") with a different number that I have yet to find. Despite it being in the Kyle area (nominally, it is on the fringe side of town), it still has a Buda address.


KYLE CROSSING / WINDY HILL ROAD to EAST CENTER STREET / FM 150

Before 2011, this had a very narrow (first-generation) bridge across I-35, though it did have exits and entrances. Kyle Parkway further down had the same bridge, but it had no roads on either side, just an overpass crossing.

Exxon / 18701 S. I-35
This Exxon, also known as "Tex Best" (Tex Best Travel Center #53, officially, and no, there aren't 50+ others), is one of the older gas stations in Kyle, dating back to 1986. It seems it picked it up the Tex Best name in 1999 and the Exxon name between 2009 and 2015. (It was a Conoco in the late 2000s).

QuikTrip / 18720 I-35
From what I can find, QuikTrip #4154 opened in July 2021. Less than a year later, another QuikTrip opened closer to Buda.

The Home Depot / 3730 Dry Hole Road
The Home Depot here takes its official address from the former name of Kyle Crossing (though it was also County Road 210). The Home Depot opened in October 2004 as the first tenant of "Kyle Town Centre". Sometime around 2021 Kyle Town Centre was renamed to "Dry River District".

18840 Interstate 35
A strip center that filled out with tenants in 2022. Pizza Patrón opened 9/15/22 according to Community Impact. There's also Tiff's Treats in the same shopping center that opened mid-2022.

P. Terry's Burger Stand / 18940 N. Interstate 35
This Austin-based burger chain with a distinctive architectural style opened in September 2022.

Denny's / 19020 S. Interstate 35
Denny's, the most recent restaurant entrant into the Dry Creek District as of this writing, opened in December 2022. It is the only 24 hour sit-down establishment in the Kyle/Buda area (the IHOP is no longer 24H).

Costco Wholesale / 19086 Interstate 35
The Kyle, Texas Costco store opened at 8 am on March 30, 2023. Near the Costco is a driveway that connects to the other businesses in the Dry River District and goes back toward Kyle Crossing behind it. This where a residential component, "Citizen House Kyle" was built in 2022 at 3400 Kyle Crossing. Within a year it had changed hands and became "The Chloe around March 2023.

Starbucks / 19140 I-35
The two Kyle Starbucks (excluding a third store that opened in 2007 near the H-E-B Plus) on Interstate 35 opened within a close timeframe of each other. The southbound store on the north side of town opened in October 2021 (per Starbucks Everywhere).

The Strand / 150 Amberwood South
The Amberwood subdivision was established around 2004, and while this apartment complex (first phase completed in 2015) isn't accessible from the freeway, it does help establish the fabric of suburban I-35. Next to it, there's The Aidan (210 Amberwood South). The Aidan predated The Strand by a few years, and was originally known as The Settlement until the early 2020s.

EVO Entertainment / 3200 Kyle Crossing
EVO Entertainment (movie theater/bowling alley/arcade) opened in Kyle in November 2014. The restaurant inside is called "Hardihoods Eatery & Drinkery".

Sunoco / Schlotzsky's / 19350 S. I-35
The original construction here was a Shell gas station with Schlotzsky's and Sac-N-Pac in 2011. In 2015, Stripes took over the convenience store portion (adding a Laredo Taco Company counter) with its then-parent company Sunoco taking over the gas station component soon after. As of February 2020, this was still a Stripes but within two years had become a 7-Eleven with the sale of Stripes to 7-Eleven.

Dutch Bros Coffee / 20325 Interstate 35
This West Coast drive-through coffeehouse chain opened in August 2022. It is the second Dutch Bros in Hays County.

Firestone Complete Auto Care / 20301 I-35
This Firestone opened in July 2013 and marks the beginning of The Village at Kyle, a sprawling commercial area across both sides of Kyle Parkway, and is anchored by Lowe's (at the northeast corner) and Walmart (at the southeast corner). There's also a Goodwill there, too.

Arby's / 20417 S. Interstate 35
This Arby's opened in fall 2018 but opened as a Carl's Jr. in the restaurant chain's ill-fated second Texas expansion. Carl's Jr. opened mid-2014 but closed by early 2018.

Taco Cabana / 20445 S. Interstate 35
Taco Cabana opened around June 2016, around the same time as its sister chain Pollo Tropical. While Pollo Tropical sadly didn't last (and was arguably the superior restaurant), TC remains open today (and is not 24 hours, like it was founded on).

Hawaiian Bros Island Grill / 20471 S. I-35
Pollo Tropical arrived in Hays County in May 2016 but closed eleven months later. Its replacement, Hawaiian Bros, opened in April 2021, four years after the demise of Pollo Tropical.

Panda Express / 5261 Kyle Centre Drive
At some point, I'll probably make some sort of page for the entire development on all four sides of the highway and Kyle Parkway (encompassing Lowe's, Walmart, H-E-B Plus, Target, Kohl's, etc.), as it would take a bit long to list everything at the four corners, and in some cases, not particularly interesting. Such is the case of Panda Express, which opened in May 2011.

Chick-fil-A / 5289 Kyle Centre Drive
This Chick-fil-A originally opened in 2010 (and has the alternate address of 20612 Interstate 35). Like other Chick-fil-A restaurants, it has been upgraded to handle additional drive-through at the expense of the walk-in area. The re-configuration came in late 2021 to allow for double drive-through service; unfortunately, this eliminated parking adjacent to the restaurant (though there is still a dine-in area).

McDonald's / 5325 Kyle Centre Drive
There is nothing special about this McDonald's, which opened in March 2010. Like the Chick-fil-A to the immediate north of it, some changes in the parking lot were made to better handle drive-through traffic in 2021.

IHOP / 5401 Kyle Centre Drive
Despite the "24 Hour" signage, this chain restaurant closes at 10pm (except on Fridays and Saturdays). As the restaurant opened in May 2012, it probably was 24 hours for the first eight years or so of its opening.

Walmart / 5754 Kyle Pkwy.
Walmart Supercenter #4130 opened in November 2014. In 2022, the store was renovated to the current Walmart décor and design. They added a Claire's (replacing the salon) to the store. It already has a Subway, which is rarely open these days.

Additionally, they have a gas station and convenience store near the store at 20585 Interstate 35.

RBFCU / 20613 IH-35 N.
RBCFU, short for Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union, opened a location in Kyle in November 2015, which the credit union helpfully mentions on its site.

Exxon / KFC / Long John Silver's / 20925 S. I-35
Despite the corporation separation of KFC and Long John Silver's back in 2011 and the heavy closures that have rocked the combo stores and Long John Silver's alike, you can still find both here in 2022.

The convenience store portion opened as Sac-N-Pac in 2002, converted to a Stripes around 2015 and again to 7-Eleven in 2020.

Lex Word Building / 21001 S. I-35
Also known as and holding exclusively the Hays Central Appraisal District, this small office building is only accessible from the frontage road. When it was built in 1994 and all the way up to 2013, the frontage road was two-way.

Chicken Express / 5493 Kyle Centre Drive
I've been told this Chicken Express restaurant opened in December 2013.

Club Car Wash / 5537 Kyle Centre Drive
This tunnel car wash opened in November 2019 as Rapid Express. In summer 2022, Club Car Wash acquired Rapid Express and was quickly rebranded.

Poco Loco Market / 21140 Interstate 35
Poco Loco Market #5 opened here in May 2019; it tends to have cheaper gas than competition.

Just south of the Poco Loco is Old Burleson Road. There's some signage, but the road has been closed off to vehicular traffic, and the curb was rebuilt. This happened sometime in 2020, with the road restriped to just merging lanes. Formerly, the right-most lane was a right-hand only lane into the road.

Saddle Creek / 21393 I-35
This apartment complex (next to Plum Creek, actually) was built around the mid-2000s.

Conoco / 1203 N. Old Hwy. 81
This gas station has been here since at least the late 1960s. It is currently a Conoco and has been such since at least the 2000s.

Kyle Flea Market / 1119 N. Old Hwy. 81
The flea market has been here since 1996 but the building was originally home to (as late as the 1980s and early as the 1970s), Longhorn Machine Works. There wasn't much I can find about LMW, this case text mentions it made pipe nipples and forge fittings. There's a few outdoor booths but many of the booths are inside, with gloomy corridors and little shops inside.

Mr. T Washateria No. 2 / 807 N. Old Hwy. 81

From the construction of the Interstate to 2013, the southbound frontage road was two-way and bowed outwards as Old Highway 81. After this, Old Highway 81 was cut off at Martinez, and the newer one-way frontage road was much closer to the Interstate and had no driveways between the road and the Interstate. In the case of "Mr. T", however, Old Highway 81 was removed in front of it and re-connected to the frontage road another 100 feet back, leaving a long driveway, and a sign that's almost invisible from the frontage road.

O'Reilly Auto Parts / 22387 I-35
This auto parts store opened in early 2015. Its competition, AutoZone, just to the north, came to Kyle around 2006.

Starbucks / 22449 I-35
This Starbucks, like its sister store on the north side of Kyle, opened in March 2022.

7-Eleven / 22553 I-35
This 7-Eleven was opened in 2013 around the same time FM 150 West was re-routed to curl around toward Center Street.

CVS/pharmacy / 102 N. Old Hwy. 81
CVS Pharmacy #3505 opened in summer 2008 to replace some smaller retail that had Movie Gallery (#457; The Movie Shop originally). It moved to the H-E-B Plus shopping center afterwards but it closed in the Movie Gallery/Hollywood Video bankruptcy of 2008.


EAST CENTER STREET / FM 150 to RIVER RIDGE PARKWAY

This is where downtown Kyle is. This bridge was also rebuilt in the early 2010s with reconstructing FM 150 to connect to Kyle's East Center Street. The actual frontage road, not the old US-81, is not labeled on the 1968 map and old Google Street View images refer to this as "West Access" despite the presence of houses on it.

Casa Maria Mexican Restaurant / 22604 I-35
This new-build Mexican restaurant opened in 2012. It replaced a small warehouse (no tenant) with a similar footprint.

Dairy Queen / 22601 Interstate 35
While it has been renovated since, the Dairy Queen in Kyle has been here since the early 1970s (1973 or 1975, hard to nail down).

Valero / 22801 Interstate 35
Located at the end of what was FM 150 (now Hill Street following the re-routing), this Valero also has 7-Eleven. It was converted to 7-Eleven in 2019 from Stripes, which had converted the convenience store from Sac-N-Pac in 2015.

The history of this station has been hard to nail down. The gas canopies were rebuilt around 2010 (previously a smaller canopy perpendicular to the store) and was likely a Diamond Shamrock originally, but it appears to have been Sac-N-Pac since 1987.

Cedar Supply Inc. / 23400 I-35
This was A&C Cedar Inc. from 1983 to 1987, with Cedar Supply Inc. from 1988 on (it's the same company, they just changed names). There aren't many places in Hays County where the railroad has a spur (it is, after all, an Amtrak route), but this is one of them.


RIVER RIDGE PARKWAY to SOUTH GUADALUPE STREET / STATE HIGHWAY 123

The numbering resets around San Marcos, with N. Interstate 35 being north of Highway 123, and S. Interstate 35 being south of that...though a few addresses seem to break that rule. As a result, they aren't going to be labeled as "North".

Sunoco / 1903 N. Interstate 35
This started as a Texaco in 1989 (possibly older but unlikely) with a generic food mart. Between July 2015 and May 2016, the Texaco closed. In January 2017, a Stripes (with Sunoco) opened near the Texaco's site. It didn't directly replace it, but it did use the same address. The gas station is still Stripes as of December 2022.

Motel 6 / 1701 N. Interstate 35
Also known as "Motel 6 San Marcos - North", this motel was clearly something else originally...Motel 6 motels do not normally have a pentagon house-shaped sign. Until around 2016-2017, this was "Ramada Limited" (a low-end version of Ramada), which appears to be the original tenant.

LifeStorage / 1615 N. Interstate 35
This opened as 2016 as Alcove Storage. By October 2017 it assumed its current name.

Howard Johnson by Wyndham / 1601 N. Interstate 35
This was Stratford Inn and became Howard Johnson Inn (rebranded to "Howard Johnson by Wyndham" sometime later) in the late 2000s or very early 2010s.

Premier ER & Urgent Care / 1509 N. I-35
You may remember my old former Restaurant list. A Kettle restaurant was here from 1978 to sometime in the 2000s, when it disconnected to become "Pancake Restaurant" before finally closing in 2011 (though the numbering changed at some point, apparently this was considered 2121 N. I-35 at some point). After sitting vacant for over half a decade, it was eventually torn down for Premier ER & Urgent Care, which replaced the "PANCAKE" sign with "PREMIER".

In-N-Out Burger / 1437 N. I-35
In 1992, this space was developed as a Shoney's, and like the Waco and Temple locations (covered in these I-35 pages) was converted to Jim's in 1999. Jim's didn't last long here (longer than Temple or Waco, which isn't saying much) and by January 2008 it was home to Bikinis Sports Bar & Grill (having opened a few months earlier). After Bikinis closed in 2015, it was demolished and rebuilt as an In-N-Out Burger, which opened in June 2016.

Hawaiian Bros Island Grill / 1439 N. Interstate 35
Like Kyle's, this HBIG was also built as a Pollo Tropical and closed at the same time. In 2021, it reopened as a Hawaiian Bros Island Grill. It replaced a Philips 66 (it had been one since at least the early 1990s) and closed in the late 2000s or very early 2010s. (Tax records indicate 7-Eleven had wanted to open here in the early 2010s but ultimately they never did). By 2016 it was demolished with the Pollo Tropical coming soon after.

Texas Bean & Brew House / 1328 N. Interstate 35
From 1985 to around 1998 this was "Casa de Pico", a Mexican restaurant, then "Dos Flores Tex-Mex & Grill" (2005 to around 2009), then Japan Latino Sushi & Steak from approx. 2010 to 2019. It was a Japanese restaurant (not fusion). Texas Bean & Brew House has been here since 2019.

If there was something in the 1998-2005 timeframe, I don't have information on it.

P. Terry's Burger Stand / 515 Springtown Way
P. Terry's Burger Stand #16 opened in 2019 on the site of the old Kobe Steak House (also known as Kobe Japanese Steak House), which has since relocated to 210 Springtown Way. From 1992 to 2004, it was the site of New August Moon Chinese Restaurant.

The Lyndon at Springtown / 200 Springtown Way
The Lyndon at Springtown, a multi-story apartment building (one-plus-five style) replaces Springtown Center, an outdoor mall-turned strip center. It was a true "mall" (though not enclosed) built sometime in the 1970s (not 1961 as I read somewhere) with a smaller strip mall portion and anchored by J.C. Penney (east end, where the "mall" was) and Wuest's of San Marcos on the west end (a supermarket). In the mid-1990s Wuest's closed and the mall was redeveloped as a regular strip mall anchored by Target (see below) and JCPenney. JCPenney retained its spot (by this time it was 40k square feet with one expansion that incorporated another storefront). Bealls moved and a short-lived OfficeMax also moved in. In 2009, Target, Bealls, and JCPenney left Springtown for Stonecreek, where all three built modern, stand-alone stores.

In 2015, with the redevelopment of the former Target, the rest of the center soon was knocked down for what is now Lyndon at Springtown, which features smaller stores on the lower level. A variety of stores and restaurants exist, including Hopdoddy Burger Bar, Ideal Dental, Simply Mac, Pure Barre, Green Mesquite, Tiff's Treats, and others. (The above link is mirrored from here).

1180 Thorpe Lane
This was originally a Target store that replaced about half of the old Springtown Center in 1999, opening in July 1999. Less than a decade later it would be replaced by a new store at Stonecreek Crossing and by July 2009 was boarded up.

The former Target was divided into two tenants. Gold's Gym (Ste. 120), opened in early 2016 and The Spot Cinema Eatery (Ste. 130) in October of that year (later renamed EVO Entertainment in 2020). (source). A stand-alone building built around the same time the former Target was re-tenanted was also given the 1180 Thorpe name following the Springtown redevelopment with currently three tenants (as of early 2020), America's Best Contacts & Eyeglasses, Great Clips, and Summer Moon Wood Fired Coffee.

1160 Thorpe Lane
This block of smaller stores was built with Target in 1999. In the Target days Suite 101 (which occupies most, if not all, of the space) was occupied by Blockbuster. Today the renovated space holds Twin Liquors.

Saltgrass Steak House / 1141 N. I-35
Logan's Roadhouse opened in 2000 as a new building but closed between 2016 and 2017. Saltgrass opened in 2019.

1109 N. Interstate 35
Long John Silver's operated here from approximately 1977 to 2020 (had the address of 35 Long Street, at least initially). Sometime around the mid-2000s it was either extensively renovated or rebuilt to be co-branded with A&W, but this was removed in the early 2010s.

Mucho Taco moved in shortly after LJS's demise, but it closed in April 2023 citing high inflation costs.

McDonald's / 1105 IH 35
There has been a McDonald's at this site since the mid-1970s (another McDonald's was built just one exit down sometime around the late 1990s but this one remained). Another lot next to it has been used for parking since the mid-1990s, there's a sign that has the Golden Arches and "McDonald's Bus-Truck-RV Parking".

1011 N. Interstate 35
This former Burger King opened in 1987 and by the late 1990s had built an enclosed playground. Around 2015 it was closed.

7-Eleven / 1004 Interstate 35
This 7-Eleven was a convenience store/gas station called Quix that 7-Eleven purchased back in 2012. The Quix name came in 1992 when its parent company converted from Payless Gas. It originally opened in 1987. Fixtures and signage indicate it may have been branded Chevron at one point.

Fuego Tortilla Grill / 913 Interstate 35
Fuego Tortilla Grill's second location (first one in College Station). It is the only one in the chain that occupied an existing building, in this case, an extensively renovated KFC which existed from 1990 to 2012 (it actually moved). Fuego opened here in September 2014, though at the time, there was another establishment called "Fuego Coffee & Ice" in San Marcos that has since closed.

Like it's College Station cousin that switched to "24/6" (closed Mondays) after a food sickness outbreak, at some point the San Marcos location did the same. As a footnote, the tortilla chips are just plain colored, not "team colors" like the Waco and College Station locations.

Classic Inn / 921 IH-35
This was a Microtel Inn in the early 2000s and later rebranded to "GateWay Inn". Between June 2019 and February 2020, GateWay Inn was replaced by Classic Inn.

San Marcos Tourist Information Center / 617 IH 35
I'm not sure when the tourist information center opened, but I'd be remiss in not mentioning that I did visit here back in 2010 when I really saw San Marcos properly for the first time. Thanks to a ~1998 aerial mounted on the wall, it was here I was able to see the Highway 21/80 intersection as I remembered it as well as Springtown as a "mall".

I had wanted to make a whole post on my old blog on that 2010 trip and while the memories would've been fresher, the execution would've been much sloppier.

White Rock Inn / 801 IH 35
This motel has changed hands a few times and I don't know what the original one is. It was Parkside Inn & Suites in January 2008, Knights Inn in May 2011, and White Rock Inn in March 2021 (still Knights Inn in 2020). While I'll go to Guadalupe Street eventually, this is where I intend to end so South Texas Retail can pick up where I left off due to a handshake deal some time ago.

Interestingly, from various sources, White Rock Inn was the original name.

Shell / 207 Interstate 35
Also known as San Marcos Truck Stop (and also is known to have the address of 207-209, or just 209), this gas station/truck stop currently features "Restaurant Pollo El Rey". The station is currently a Shell and has been since at least the early 2000s, but the station itself goes back to the early 1960s.

200 Interstate 35
This strip center was built on the site of a Luby's Cafeteria, opened sometime around early 1994 and still branded as Luby's Cafeteria until closure 2/28/19. It was demolished by August and was an empty pad for a few years before the strip center development.

Krispy Kreme / 121 Interstate 35
This building was built in 2007 as a Seattle's Best Coffee coffeehouse, but in early 2009 the Austin franchisee broke ties with the chain (in part due to Starbucks buying Seattle's Best) and renamed the stores as Texenza Coffee. When it closed in 2011 (the chain closed a year later), Krispy Kreme was quick to fill the space, opening by the end of the year.

Pluckers Wing Bar / 105 I-35
This building operated as a Red Robin from 2006 to 2008. Pluckers opened in the spot in early 2009.


SOUTH GUADALUPE STREET / STATE HIGHWAY 123 to CENTER POINT ROAD

While Guadalupe Street is the closest access to San Marcos' downtown, there isn't much development to the south of here that wasn't built in the late 2000s or beyond...the outlet malls excepted.

Twin Peaks / 1207 Interstate 35
This opened in 2019 and was Carino's Italian from 2004 to 2019. From 1993 to 2003 it was a Golden Corral (Carino's demolished it to build a new restaurant). Carino's looks it may have closed as late as 2019.

Texas Roadhouse / 1502 IH 35 S
This chain steakhouse opened in 2006 according to tax records. Additional parking was built in 2015.

The Lanes at Oslo / 1560 S. I-35
The Lanes at Oslo, or rather, "The Lanes @ ØSLO" opened in early 2023 in a renovated Country Inn & Suites hotel. It didn't operate that long as a hotel, originally opening in 2009. It appears it shut down (as a hotel) around late 2021 or maybe early 2022.

Taste Of China Super Buffet / 1721 I-35
This Chinese restaurant opened in a purpose-built building in late 2008.

7-Eleven / 2201 Interstate 35
This gas station was built in 2000 as Shell, and initially was branded as "Q Mart" with Church's Chicken. At some point in the early 2010s the Q Mart branding disappeared, with Church's Chicken closing soon after. In 2018 the entire station was renovated into a 7-Eleven (incorporating Church's old space).

Academy Sports + Outdoors / 550 Barnes Drive
Opened in 2009 and currently located next to a smaller Spec's store, Academy marks the start of Stonecreek Crossing, a large shopping center stole Springtown's tenants and added some more along with it. You can see the site plan of the shopping center here (archived from this link). Academy is considered part of the center even though it's not connected to the main strip.

600 Barnes Drive
This strip was built in 2017, several years after the opening of the main center. It features Michaels, Five Below, and Ulta Beauty. Originally, Ulta Beauty was home to Tuesday Morning (which closed in 2021), with Ulta Beauty opening here in early 2022.

Target / 700 Barnes Drive
This 130k square feet Target (T-2438) opened in March 2009 and replaced Target T-1203 at Springtown.

JCPenney / 800 Barnes Drive
JCPenney (800 Barnes Drive) opened here in 2009 with Target, the second of the three big stores that fled Springtown. It's not directly next to Target, there's the "750 Barnes" block between them. In 2022, the largest space, Suite 100 (next to JCPenney) had Sears Hometown. The scaled-down Sears had a brief stay here in 2022 (February to August). It was operated by corporate but failed to find a local owner.

850 Barnes Drive
Standing alone from JCPenney since its conception, Bealls was the third and last of the Springtown refugees. Bealls operated here from 2009 to around 2019. (It did not convert to Gordmans).

Embassy Suites by Hilton / 1001 East McCarty Lane
Embassy Suites by Hilton San Marcos Hotel Conference Center, this hotel's full name according to Hilton's own site does have the "San Marcos Conference Center" as part of it; with the name on the outside and on the street sign, but it's still part of the hotel (though I'm sure that there was some sort of agreement with the city involving it). I have stayed in this hotel before (it's nice). It opened in December 2008.


CENTER POINT ROAD to POSEY ROAD

San Marcos Factory Outlets (now San Marcos Premium Outlets) opened in 1990 with Tanger Outlets following in 1993. Since then, both have received substantial additions and today, collectively, there's 130 acres of sprawling development stretching over a mile of I-35. You could quite a big of exercise traversing it. Posey Road, where we end, is not exactly at the end of Hays County, but it's close enough.

McDonald's / 4060 S. Interstate 35
The McSchlotzsky's I like to call it, was built as a Schlotzsky's Deli in 1999 but closed around 2004 (possibly early 2005). McDonald's has been here since 2006.

Unfortunately, since I visited there was a renovation that made it look less like a Schlotzsky's (most notably by removing the brick from the columns) but the layout is still the same.

Outback Steakhouse / 4205 IH 35 S
Outback Steakhouse joined Tanger Outlets in 1998 as a new construction outlot building, sharing the large parking lot of the main outlet complex. Next to it is the ruins of what was originally Bennigan's (at the confusingly named and out-of-order 4025 IH-35 S), which operated from 1999 to around 2007-2008. River City Bar & Grill opened in February 2010 per a newspaper article but closed around 2014, the restaurant was torn down the following year.

Cavender's Boot City / 4331 Interstate 35 S.
Considered part of the Tanger Outlets outlet mall, Cavender's has been here since 2000 and features an even more colorful sign than the Houston 290 one, based mostly on blue coloring. You can see a picture (mine) here from 12/22.


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