This page covers Highway 71 from the Colorado River to FM 969 (the numbering resets). Despite being Highway 71, State Highway 21 also runs concurrently in this segment. This page used to be much larger but it has been re-focused to be exclusively on Bastrop.
Version 7.0 of this page alters the structure of the page to go from east to west as the addresses go, which makes sense in some ways as other pages on this site are arranged as heading "out" from my hometown. It retains H-E-B plus! despite its North Hasler Boulevard address as well as the two Old Austin Highway addresses and The Home Depot. It covers areas east of Hasler Boulevard extensively, while less work has been done to the areas west of that.
Added: 100 Highway 71 West, 102 Highway 71 West, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Valero (at Eskew), Bastrop Wellness Center, 306 Highway 71 West, Aaron's Rent To Own, 443 State Highway 71 West, 460 Highway 71 West, P. Terry's Burger Stand, Classic Bank, Jalisco's Mexican Restaurant, 622 Highway 71 West, and Covert Chevrolet.
Updated: Basin RV Resort (previously mislabeled as "River Basin RV Resort"), Bastrop Liquor & Smoke (retitled from "Texas Grill Center"), Burger King / Denny's, Walmart, H-E-B plus!, VeraBank, Arby's, Lowe's, The Home Depot (wrong address), and Academy Sports + Outdoors (wrong address).
Removed: Valero/McDonald's, Berdoll Pecan Candy & Gift Company, Exxon (2061 State Hwy. 71), Cedar Creek High School, Dollar General (at River Oaks Drive), Valero (the former Sac-N-Pac/Stripes), Valero (the other one at the intersection--which is a Circle K entirely now), Compass Rose Harvest, Exxon (at the Highway 21 West split), Jack in the Box, Andre's Automotive, Bastrop Christian Outreach Center, Bastrop RV Park (all the preceding were removed due to a page revamp), 490B Highway 71 West (replaced with P. Terry's entry), and Sonic Drive-In. These are listed in the old order of the page.
Basin RV Resort / 98 Highway 71 West
This used to be known as the Bastrop River RV Park when it was built in the early 2000s and served under the KOA brand (Kampgrounds of America) from around 2014 to 2021 ("Bastrop/Colorado River KOA").
100 Highway 71 West
As of 2024, this is completely vacant. The two dead storefronts, "K's Hair & Nails" and "K's Bridal, Tuxedo, and Alterations", have identical phone numbers (did they have interior access?). The roadside signage is even older, referring to "Tienda Natalia Bridals·Tuxedos".
Texas Grill Restaurant / 101 Highway 71 West
"Texas Grill #2" has been here since the mid-1970s.
102 Highway 71 West
This building currently features His & Her Barbershop Salon (suite A) and Massage Place (suite B). Going back in time, in 2016, suite A was vacant and suite B was Bastrop Unified Tae Kwon Do and as of 2011, this was Church's Chicken (with operational gas pumps, it looks like). Going back further to the mid-2000s it was a Diamond Shamrock gas station and convenience store.
Bastrop Liquor & Smoke / 103 Hwy. 71 West
This was originally an Exxon from the mid-1980s to 2013. After it closed, it reopened in 2015 as Lock Drug Health Mart, a drug store/pharmacy which had relocated from downtown. It tore down the canopy and the pumps but reused the sign structures. The Exxon sign on the ground branded the space as "Texas Grill Center" (after the restaurant next door) and that name went up on the tall highway sign after Lock Drug Health Mart closed by 2019. In summer 2023 it was reopened as Bastrop Liquor & Smoke, which went up on the highway sign.
Mr. Nab Furniture / 104 Highway 71
This was "New Hope Christian Store" as of 2011 and Cornerstone Total Fitness before that (c. 2007). It appears Cornerstone was the successor to "The Bastrop Gym" which originally opened in 1993 in what was Bartsch Tire Company in the 1980s and a gas station before that. Mr. Nab has been here since 2016. This has been placed after Tropicana Motel because of where it is.
Tropicana Motel / 105 Hwy. 71 West
This simple motel has been here since 1975 (at least) and for years maintained an outdoor swimming pool. Sometime between November 2019 and March 2021 it was demolished and replaced with a basketball court.
Pizza Hut / 107 State Hwy. 71 West
The de facto pizza delivery chain in Bastrop from opening in 1975 to 2004 (when Domino's opened), this Pizza Hut is still here in its original building (with modifications). It received a black repaint in the late 2000s, and in 2022 became branded as a "Pizza Hut Classic" with the old logo appearing back on the (still black) roof.
Billy's Pit BBQ / 110 Hwy. 71 West
Tax records indicate this barbecue restaurant has been operating here since 1982. Contemporary reviews seem to rank the restaurant favorably, even if the location is a bit of a dive.
Dairy Queen / 112 State Hwy. 71 West
This Dairy Queen has been here since at least the late 1970s and is still bannered as "Dairy Queen" (rather than "DQ").
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church / 202 State Highway 71 West
This church has been here for years (at least since the 1990s and likely decades older) but I don't have much information on it.
Valero / 211 Highway 71 West
This Valero with "Country Market" has been a Valero since 2007. The gas station has been here since at least the mid-1990s.
Vitalogy Skincare / 208 State Hwy. 71
Part of an Austin-based dermatology group, this was previously a bank. There is evidence to suggest that this actually started out in the mid-1980s as Nan Olsen's Bastrop Pit Bar-B-Q Restaurant (it closed sometime in the early/mid 1990s) and by 1997 had been renovated into a bank. By 2008 it was operating as First State Bank by 2008 though in the early 2010s it closed and was replaced by Vitalogy by early 2016.
Shell / 212 Hwy. 71 West
This Shell has been here since at least 2008 (as a Shell, the station itself goes back to the 1980s). Its convenience store is currently known as "Apple Grocery" and the roasted chicken restaurant "El Norteño Ricos Pollos Asados" is located inside.
Burger King / Denny's / 300 Highway 71 West
A most curious hybrid opened in early 2018. The Burger King and Denny's here are linked together by an interior hallway (the restrooms are Denny's, they have longer hours—though no longer 24H), though they have separate dining rooms, kitchen, and staff. The previous building here (before it was Burger King) held a restaurant called China Chef (1991-2014).
Bastrop Wellness Center / 301 Highway 71 West
This two-story medical professional building was finished in fall 2002.
306 Highway 71 West
This gas station dates back to 1989 from what I can find (as Sunmart) and later Sunshines Food Mart. It had Texaco gas branding as of 2011 but debranded shortly afterward (it appears the pumps were abandoned) and closed in 2017.
EZPAWN / 311 Highway 71 West
EZPAWN has been in this unremarkable metal building since 1994.
Whataburger / 401 State Hwy. 71 West
It appears the original address was 419 State Hwy. 71 West before it was renumbered, but the Whataburger here has existed at this location since 1992.
441 State Highway 71 West
This was originally a Wal-Mart, which operated from 1987 to 1995. For some reason, the store as Wal-Mart had an even number on the north side of the road, which isn't the way it's done now. Tractor Supply Company moved in one half in 1996, the other half became Bastrop Medical Center (by 2013 this was Seton Health Plaza). By 2018 Seton Health Plaza had downscaled to the center third of the former store (the rest was now Harbor Freight Tools) and by 2022 had exited entirely and replaced with Dollar Tree. Dollar Tree uses the address of 439 State Highway 71, though this is not a holdover from the medical center.
443 State Highway 71 West
The first tenant in the strip mall between the former Wal-Mart and the former H-E-B. As of 2023 this particular space was the Republican Party of Bastrop County, then H&R Block (447, no 445), The Hair Studio (449), Sandy's Southern Spice (451, women's clothing--before the closure of Bealls this was their shoe department, "Bealls Shoes"), Beast Nutrition (455, no 453), Laundry Basket Bastrop (jumps to 471, sign just reads "Washateria"), Gr8 Vapes (473), Whole Pets Market (475), Little Caesars (479, no 477), LC Nails (jumps to 481), Cricket Wireless (483), and Kragh's Jewelry Retail & Repair (485).
Aaron's Rent To Own / 450 Highway 71 West
This store stand-alone chain store opened in fall 2003.
460 Highway 71 West
From what I can tell this started out as a large Cingular store (circa 2000) then became AT&T (around 2005) before moving out to a location several spaces down a few years later, and becoming GameStop in 2010. This took up only half the signage because it didn't use all the space, and a few years after that additional tenants joined (Sprint, later T-Mobile, and a third tenant currently used by "Vapor Maven").
P. Terry's Burger Stand / 484 Highway 71 West
Replacing a Payless ShoeSource (1997 to 2019), this renumbered from 490B when it was rebuilt as P. Terry's in the early 2020s.
Planet Fitness / 487 State Highway 71 West
This was the original address of H-E-B from approx. 1987 to 2003 when it moved to its current location. After its closure, the left side of the building had the front of half ripped out to make a new two-story building (the rest of the building extending back is the original one-story building) for First National Bank of Brenham with the new address of 489 State Hwy. 71 West. The other half was redone with a new facade and opened in late 2005 or very early 2006 as Bealls (which moved from a nearby location, having been there since 1997). Bealls closed in 2020 and was replaced by Planet Fitness opened not too long after its demise.
Walmart / 488 Highway 71 West
Walmart moved here to a new "Wal-Mart Supercenter" in 1995 from its old ten-year-old space about where Tractor Supply Company is today. From its construction to 2011, it had a McDonald's inside which co-existed with the store nearby.
Verizon / 490 State Highway 71 W.
Cartwright's Bar-B-Q moved here in 1998 from downtown and as of 2007, was still here, despite having reduced visibility when the highway was reconstructed. It finally closed down around 2010 and was replaced with its current tenant in 2011.
Schlotzsky's / 492 Highway 71 West
Schlotzsky's Deli (as it was known back then) opened in 1997 as part of the construction around the new Wal-Mart Supercenter. In the late 2010s, Schlotzsky's would attempt to rebrand as Schlotzsky's Austin Eatery, but while the Bastrop location got one of the first re-dos under that theming, the chain backed off on full rebranding. Despite this, the Schlotzsky's still features the "Schlotzsky's Austin Eatery" brand.
Classic Bank / 493 Highway 71 West
This was branded as Classic Bank in 2011 and was completed in the late 2000s (I believe it was always branded as such).
Jalisco's Mexican Restaurant / 495 Highway 71 West
This opened in 1999 and got its current facade in 2008. Research indicates it was built in 1991 as Paw-Paw's Catfish & More (1991-1997), then briefly Daylight Donuts, then Blue Lobster, before gaining its current tenant.
McDonald's / 496 Highway 71 West
This long-standing McDonald's has an interesting history before unfortunately being sanitized a number of years ago. We'll hopefully get to talk about it sometime in more detail.
Prosperity Bank / 499 State Hwy. 71 West
Surprisingly, the original H-E-B did appear to have gas pumps even in the late 1990s, and after H-E-B left, this was torn down for Lost Pines Bank, which had an old location behind 501 Hwy. 71 West and was torn down for the H-E-B in 2003. The new location was acquired by Franklin Bank in 2004 and by 2008 (the year that Franklin Bank, among others, failed), had dropped the Lost Pines Bank name entirely. Prosperity Bancshares purchased the defunct Franklin soon after and by 2009 was operating as Prosperity Bank.
501 Highway 71 West
This building houses both a First National Bank of Brenham branch (the headquarters is described below) and a Starbucks (opened March 30 2007). The building appears to have been expanded in 2007 to add the Starbucks (suite B). It doesn't appear that the Starbucks connects to the bank on the inside.
H-E-B plus! / 104 North Hasler Blvd.
The de facto supermarket in Bastrop. I remember when this was first built back in 2003, with the new H-E-B directly next to the old one it had replaced across from Hasler. The old H-E-B (see "First National Bank of Brenham" below) was 50,000 square feet, which seemed to me a modest size, at least according to the ones I had visited in Waco. The frontage of the new H-E-B (which opened in May 2003) was similar, but it was much deeper, clocking in at 90,000 square feet. In November 2014 it finished an expansion, rebranding it as an H-E-B Plus (at about 119,000 square feet). Ten years later another expansion was announced that would add another 21,000 square feet which would add True Texas BBQ, additional Curbside service, and an expanded tortilla department.
Walgreens / 504 State Hwy. 71
This Walgreens was built in 2005, introducing the storied drug store brand to the Bastrop area.
O'Reilly Auto Parts / 505 State Hwy 71 West
O'Reilly Auto Parts opened around 2002 as part of the development that added H-E-B.
CubeSmart Self Storage / 510 State Highway 71
This two-story climate controlled self storage facility opened in 2020.
Shell / 513 State Hwy. 71
This gas station has been a Shell since at least 2003 (likely a Texaco before that) and was originally built in the mid-1980s.
Wendy's / 514 Highway 71 West
For some reason, I remembered the Wendy's in Bastrop having a salad bar, one of the first and last I saw to do so. But Wendy's began phasing out salad bars in late 1997 through 1998; however, the Wendy's opened around 1996-1997 and did have a salad bar, just before it was phased out.
Chevron / 516 State Hwy. 71
Opened in December 1993 (per filings, though probably opened in 1/94), this Chevron's big sign can be seen from off the main highway, almost as if they had the foresight to realize that the divided highway it opened off of would be a freeway eventually, and within a decade, it was.
Valero / 521 Highway 71 West
This was an unbranded gas station previously (with a red and yellow color scheme, but not a former Shell) and became Valero between November 2018 and March 2021. The gas station dates back to the 1960s in form or another.
Southside Market & Barbeque / 534 Highway 71
Based out of Elgin and bragging to be the oldest continuously operated barbecue restuarant anywhere (1882), the Bastrop location was Southside's first branch location and opened in November 2014.
551 State Highway 71
This was built in 2015 with two tenants, MattressPro (laterMattress Firm "Total Markdown", a moniker that stuck around until 2020) and a Dunkin' Donuts (with Baskin-Robbins co-brand). Mattress Firm and Dunkin' still occupy the space.
Texas Boot Company / 733 Old Austin Hwy.
This building was formerly 735 Old Austin Highway and was built in 1988 for Griesenbeck's, a local furniture store. Here's an advertisement for their out of business sale when it closed in 2007. From what I can tell, "Sears Authorized Dealer Store" opened in 2005 (Bastrop had a smaller catalog store that disappeared in the early 1990s when the catalog went away) in suite "B" of 735 suggests that perhaps Griesenbeck's downscaled prior to its closure. Texas Boot Company opened in late 2010 to replace Griesenbeck's (renumbered to 733), and Sears closed several years later (sometime in the late 2010s). The Authorized Dealer Stores became Sears Hometown shortly after it opened, but it never had this on signage.
Club Car Wash / 741 Old Austin Hwy.
Formerly known as Rapid Express Car Wash until 2022 and with an Old Austin Highway address (from attaching to Texas Boot Company's parking lot, despite having no direct access to Old Austin Highway) is this large car wash facility, built in 2019.
622 Highway 71 West
Austin Regional Clinic - Bastrop and Bastrop Kids Teeth share this medical building built in 2021.
Woodland Village / 696 State Highway 71
This strip center was built in 2005, which a current PDF is available here (archived from here). The building on the far left is currently, as of this writing, Morelia Mexican Grill. In the late 2000s and early 2010s it was Nancy's Steak House, then Los Cabos Mexican Grill by 2015. Dickey's Barbecue Pit was also here at one time as well. According to this page, Dickey's Barbecue Pit was here from 2012 to 2014, then again in 2015, and briefly reopened in 2016. This seems to be mostly correct, it seems to have operated from 2012 to 2014, then again in 2016-2017, from what I can piece together.
Taco Cabana / 698 State Highway 71
Taco Cabana has been here since late 2005. It is considered part of Woodland Village (see entry above).
VeraBank / 701 State Highway 71 West
VeraBank marks the first tenant (address-wise) of late 2000s strip center, Burleson Crossing. I've archived a PDF of Burleson Crossing here where you can see what it looked like circa 2018. Directly to the north of Best Buy is Old Navy (767 State Hwy 71 West) opened sometime around January 2022. It was formerly Staples, which opened in January 2011 but closed in February 2021, presumably a 10-year lease that they didn't want to maintain. On that subject as well, the directory shows Orange Leaf, a frozen yogurt shop, at 747 Highway 71 W. Ste. A600. It opened in September 2015 but closed in 2021. VeraBank in particular isn't on there—IBC Bank (opened c. 2009) closed by spring 2022 but reopened as VeraBank by August 2022.
Covert Chevrolet / 702 State Highway 71 West
Covert has been here since at least the early 1990s.
Arby's / 711 Highway 71 West
This one of the earlier Carl's Jr. stores in their ill-fated late 2000s/early 2010s Texas expansion was located here and opened in early 2009. Unlike others that later opened in Houston and beyond, it also featured a Green Burrito co-brand. It closed in 2018, replaced by an Arby's, part of the massive downscale of the chain that had the chain exiting most of Texas; today, the few Carl's Jr. stores in Texas are found in truck stops. (There was a holdout in Georgetown that was open as late as 2024).
Lowe's / 719 Highway 71 West
Lowe's arrived in November 2008, a few years after The Home Depot did. The store is #2840. As of October 2024, construction was underway for a Chipotle in an undeveloped pad site south of it (707, suite B) with likely more additional tenants to come.
The Home Depot / 112 Hunters Crossing Blvd.
A bit about The Home Depot when it opened back in 2002 can be seen here on BastropTexas.net.
Panda Express / 728 State Highway 71 West
The pad site next to Chili's and in front of The Home Depot was built and opened as a Panda Express in early 2011.
Chili's / 734 State Hwy. 71
This Chili's restaurant opened in summer 2002 (see the link in the Home Depot entry below).
Academy Sports + Outdoors / 749 State Hwy. 71
Academy was part of a second phase that was built around 2014-2015. (Academy opened in 2014). The empty space in the map linked in the "Best Buy" entry is now HomeGoods. It opened in July 2019 (I don't think anything else actually opened. Likely something was to open but then went out of business before formal plans were made.)
Best Buy / 761 Highway 71 West
Best Buy opened in summer 2009 (when a lot of companies were scaling back or closing) and is the southwest anchor and closest one to the highway of Burleson Crossing.
McCoy's Building Supply / 801 State Highway 71 West
McCoy's has quietly been operating here since 1996 and seems at home in the west Bastrop retail district.
Lost Pines Toyota / 806 State Hwy 71 West
This represents about the point where the addressing changes, with the even numbers being on the south side of the road. Lost Pines Toyota opened in 2012.
This is as far as we go here. A quick jog up 150 is Highway 21, where we continue east toward Caldwell and Bryan.