I just had a rather inspired moment of remembrance, so I am going to have to divide it into sections:
Department/clothing stores:
I remember the Winn's logo vaguely - it was kind of a chevron or shield with purple and orange maybe? Their typeface was kind of like a sans-serif version of the Firestone tire typeface, or maybe I'm imagining things. Thind of a chevron or shield with purple and orange maybe? Their typeface was kind of bubbly and sans-serif, not unlike the Northeastern Bradlee's logo.
The Winn's at Spicewood Springs and 183 was a few doors down from the Little Caesars, which my family used to frequent all the time. It was in the far corner of the shopping center, not far from the Olan Mills location that was responsible for some of my most adorably 80's kid photos!
There are two department store chains we've collectively failed to mention thus far:
Weiner's and
Yaring's! I am patting myself on the back for remembering those.
Weiner's was downmarket if I recall, almost a close-out type place, but I think Yaring's was clothes-only and middle-class. There was one at Galleria Oaks (Balcones Club and North 183). I don't know what's in that building now, but the large restaurant pad in that shopping center has been a fairly transient place. There was a 50's themed diner called Hudson's Grill there for a while in the mid 90's.
Research Boulevard pre-freeway upgrade:
One more mystery big box - or medium box, if you will: across from the DFO/Kmart pad on 183 (between Peyton Gin and Burnet). I have a very, very vague memory, of being no more than 5 or 6 (the first time I lived in Austin), and going to a large garden or hardware type store in this building. The typeface, of course, I remember vividly; it was two words, lower-case, thin weighted sans serif font with two colors. (Clearly, I have a penchant for remembering logos and fonts!)
Also, there was a restaurant over on 183 also between Payton Gin and Burnet, roughly where that new two-story shopping center is now. I think it was called Mama's. Anyway, I am not sure if the building got demolished or if it's something else over there, but I recall being around age 4 or so and being burnt on the finger badly by one of those outdoor spot lights that businesses put in front of shrubbery. Maybe this is in front of the PetsMart (which was a Tom Thumb at one point, right?) Going down 183 towards Lamar, I remember the Anderson Square having a much different tenant base than they do now. Grainger's was a Miller's Outpost, but I am not sure if it was anything before that. The Mervyn's was always there as far as I can remember, and what is now the NTB was a TJ Maxx. TJ Maxx disappeared for over a decade, I think, until the mid to late 90's when they began to reappear.
More restaurants:
Fajita Junction. I think they were like the Mexican version of Short Stop - they built several buildings, all constructed in a similar format. I think one remains at Airport and Manor, and there was one up in Cedar Park or Northwest Austin, and one in South Central Austin.
Magic Time Machine was on Riverside between 35 and Congress, right? I had two birthdays there. I remember Sinbad being my waiter one of the times.
Birraporetti's was, if I recall, an Irish and Italian fusion chain. I remember going once (I know for sure we did because my grandfather collects restaurant menus, or rather, steals them, and frames them in his kitchen as a kitschy decoration theme, and he has a Biraporetti's menu)
Steak and Ale was around till at least the mid-late 90's, because I remember going in high school or right after high school with my best friend and being kind of in awe/shock/amusement at the notion of eating in a claustrophobic, decaying restaurant concept. There was the Anderson location, but I was wondering if there was a Southside location?
More grocery stuff:
Of the Randall's in inner west Austin, which began as Safeways or something else? I know the Lake Austin Randall's was the famous AppleTree, but there's also a Randall's at Exposition and Windsor (their smallest by far) and one up on Balcones near 2222. What did the Lohman's Crossing (Lakeway) Randall's begin as?
And finally, to top the exhaustive list, was there a grocery store in the shopping center at Rutland and Parkfield? It seems to be a shopping center large enough to have had one. Also, what was the original tenant for the Harley Davidson dealer on Braker and 35? It looks like it may have been a discount department store or a grocery store at one point.
And we should be ashamed of ourselves for forgetting another local or
regional chain of grocery stores -
Foodland! I remember Foodland being considered very downmarket; they stocked Parade brand staples, which is always a bad sign. There was a location at Anderson Mill and Olson/Millwright, a mile west of 183, which is now an Austin Regional Clinic. I remember the local gossip in the neighborhood being focused on the fact that a Foodland checker/bagger walked across Anderson Mill and killed two people in the duplexes across the street. This was probably 1993-1994.
My aunt mentioned yesterday that this used to be a Piggly Wiggly before being a Foodland. Would that make it the only Piggly Wiggly in Austin, or were there others?
Other stores I remember:
Also - Remco and GranTree - do those brands ring a bell to anyone? I don't know what Remco did but GranTree I think was furniture. I could be imagining incorrectly that GranTree was in Austin. It may have been a Seattle thing from when I lived there as a kid (this might be the case, since all I can find on google about GranTree furniture mentions Spokane.) But something tells me Remco and GranTree were both in the Burnet/Northcross area.
Furrow Lumber was located at Anderson Mill and Pond Springs, but it may have been something else before that. (For those who don't know, Pond Springs was Old 183/Jollyville Road) I believe that that is the oldest part of Northwest Austin - there are a few pre 1950's houses around there if I recall. The subdivision Shady Oaks (between Anderson Mill and 183 frontage road, before Hymeadow, under the water tower) is the oldest I believe, some of those houses date from the late 1960's, I think. I know that most of Anderson Mill was built out between 1974 and 1982 (the oldest part being right behind Westwood and the newest part being over near 620/El Salido). Most of Anderson Mill was built at the exact same time as Barrington Oaks (the area right behind Spicewood Springs and 183). The neighborhood that roughly corresponds to Forest North elementary is older than the rest of the area.
Car dealerships:
At Balcones Woods and 183, the Chevy dealer used to be an early 70's vintage design, not at all like what it looks like today. I think it was Cliff Peck when I was really young, then Chevrolet Country for about 15 years before becoming Champion. The Ford dealership started out as Landmark Ford and used to be set back quite far from 183, but now the front entrance is now hemmed off by the frontage road. Another Ford dealership I remember (that is now long gone) is Coffey Lincoln-Mercury, which was located at 5th and Lamar. It was actually a rather interesting looking building if I recall, with tall windows, but it was bulldozed by the early 90's timeframe. Of course Capitol Chevrolet was across the street, and McMorris Ford was on West 6th where the Julian Gold store is now.
My favorite car dealership location has always been what is now Mercedes-Benz of Austin. It always struck me as odd that Airport Boulevard was the pre-eminent luxury car miracle mile before the 90's - the neighborhoods around there were never upscale; the first upper-middle-class neighborhood is probably Allandale, and that's 2 miles away. The rest was never that nice, except for maybe Coronado Hills or Windsor Park east of Berkman. My stepdad grew up over there (went to Reagan) and he said that in the 70's it was considered a fairly smart place to live, and was of course, mostly white.
Anyway, Mercedes-Benz used to be Continental Cars, and there was a time when they sold Peugeot and the oddest ball of them all, Sterling (which was just a Rover 800 basically). I think they also sold Alfa Romeos at either that dealership or the one down on Huntland Drive closer to the airport. I remember collecting all the manuals and begging my mother to test drive the weirdest, most unpractical and overpriced luxury cars.
Does anyone know where/which dealers sold Renaults, Peugeots, Fiats, or AMC's? I know that Pavilion Lincoln Mercury sold Merkurs right when they opened. I remember playing around inside a Merkur Scorpio in the showroom.
Shopping centers that were abandoned during construction:
There was a shopping center at Lake Creek and 183, I think planned to be called Copper Creek Mall, which was only partially built and abandoned in the late 80's. I vividly remember the scaffolding sitting there for YEARS. It was not located exactly where Lake Creek festival is, but rather on the other side of Hymeadow. The scaffolding went all the way to Pond Springs; that lot sat empty for probably a decade and is basically underneath the Black Eyed Pea and those extended stay motels.
Any other shopping centers abandoned mid-flight?
... whew. I am going to bed! That was a buttload of Austin nostalgia.