Memories Of The Woodlands

[ChadC154]

On 4/22/2014 at 5:05 PM, zstrater86 said:

The teen center was called the Gorilla Hole for a while. There used to be dances and roller hockey there too.

 

 

Yep I remember waiting in line to buy tickets to the dances before they sold out. Played roller hockey there as well. Miss those days!

[ChadC154]

On 4/22/2014 at 12:08 AM, Colin said:

I lived in The Woodlands in the early 90's, in middle school. We spent quite a bit of time on our bikes on the dirt roads, past the "No Trespassing" signs that existed on the then-edge of development around Kuykendahl, just exploring. We moved there right as the supermarket in Grogan's Mill Shopping Center was closing. The name Jamail's sounds right. The Kroger shopping center at Research/Gosling opened about 1994. Before that, it was basically Randall's at Panther Creek, Piggly Wiggly in Oak Ridge, or the now-closed Randall's and Kroger that were near Sawdust/Budde. We spent a lot of time at that Kroger shopping center, and Panther Creek saw a marked decline when it opened. There used to be a video store where the Starbuck's is now, called Take One Video, and that's where we would rent our games. That was eventually bought out by Blockbuster though, who already had a store by the new Kroger.

 

I know that, in about 1995, I found a book at the library in The Woodlands that was about its history, mostly in terms of Mitchell's initial development. The one thing that interested me the most was the master plan for the community that he had drawn by hand, incorporating office and industrial (the "Trade Center" area that was finally built up only a few years ago) into housing. And the housing was spread out into different densities for different incomes. I may head over there tomorrow to see if it's still on their shelves.

 

That old Wal-Mart on Sawdust sat vacant for many, many years. I recall it being vacant as late as 1999, with the outline of the sign still visible above the doors. That now-Hobby Lobby K-Mart (I believe it was even a Super K-Mart) opened around 1993, IIRC. I don't recall what else was in that old strip mall with Kroger and Wal-Mart, except for Ninfa's, Cici's, and a Sundale Donuts.

 

Just thought I'd add that.

The Candy House was a fun place to stop while riding bikes to Panther Creek. You might remember Ruby Begonias there as well. Over by Sundale donuts there was the bars Rookies and Barney's pool hall and across the street was the 19th hole.

[Lin Ridenhower]

I moved to The Woodlands 8n 1982. I worked at the Jamails in Grogans Mill then at the Panther Creek store.  Jerry Jamail. His family also had a Houston store (the original Jamails). They were wonderful.

[Lin Ridenhower]

What was the name of the Hobby Shop in what is now WalGreens... the same parking lot of the WalMart (now Big Lots)?

[zaphod]

That Walgreens was there when I was a kid in the late 1990s and also its architecture looks similar to some other Walgreens or former Walgreens I've seen, are you sure it was a hobby shop?

I think there was a Ben Franklin Crafts somewhere in that shopping center. I vaguely remember the little Walmart that was the Big Lots, it moved across the road into the building that's now a self storage warehouse. The Hobby Lobby and Dollar tree further to the west was a Kmart.

What a blast from the past though. That shopping center had a bunch of neat things. There was a pet store called Wet Pets, the owners came to our elementary school and brought snakes and other critters for us to touch.

Across the road in that old Randall's was a Marco's mexican restaurant our family ate at a lot, those used to be a big thing but now seem to have vanished. Also next to that Randalls was a video store that rented/sold NES games which was pretty awesome.

Late 90's our family moved out of state and to other various places and even though I live in Houston again I honestly never venture to that area of the metro.

Edited May 12, 2021 by zaphod