Heading back out towards the back of the parking lot, here's just another view of the right side of the strip mall, featuring that super awkwardly placed utility pole again. I just love how the double zig-zag roofline looks, especially from this angle.
If you think that utility pole is awkwardly placed, check out one of the Jack in the Boxes around here where the relatively recently relocated utility pole was put right in between two of the JitB parking spaces! I did a double-take when I saw that in-person here recently!
ReplyDeletehttps://goo.gl/maps/zfA8DzMkBqjMRZ5S6
Since this is a relatively new Google Streetview shot, you can see some other interesting developments around the Jack in the Box. First is the new Kroger gas station next door which is the replacement for the Krogertsons Express C-store that used to be next door until it was knocked down and replaced with the C-storeless Kroger gas station. On the other side of N. Eldridge Parkway from the Kroger gas station is the Eckerd/CVS that never was that now has a Walgreens pharmacy taking up only about 1/3rd of the building. Flip the camera around to the other side and you'll see the new WSS shoe store (the WSS chain was recently purchased by Foot Locker) in the old full-sized Walgreens.
Wow -- at least this one has the excuse of being nearly 60 years old, but it's crazy to see that for a brand-new installation! It looks like the road might be getting widened, though it's already 7 lanes, which seems plenty wide for a surface street...
DeleteIt's also weird to see Walgreens continuing to replace full-size stores of their own with these miniature stores. Between that, CVS planning to close hundreds of stores, and Rite Aid's general issues, it seems like the drug store industry must be having serious issues.
Yeah, at least the Reedsport utility pole has some protecting poles around it. With the Jack in the Box one, someone could drive right into the pole and cause the pole to fall onto the Jack in the Box or the street! It really is quite strange.
DeleteFM 1960 W is quite a busy road here in North Houston. There were some rumors about 20 years ago of turning it into a freeway, but that never happened and I don't think it will anytime soon. There's a lot of retail along it so it's quite an interesting place with lots of little interesting stories. But, yeah, wide roads are not uncommon around here. Probably the best example of this is I-10 in the Memorial City Mall area which is a freeway that is about 18 lanes across...and I'm not even sure if that counts the feeder roads! Here's what it looks like. That's the Kroger of the Villages over to the left (a Kroger in an old Safeway) and the 99 Ranch Market in an old Fiesta Mart over the right. Memorial City Mall is just down the freeway. Link: https://goo.gl/maps/XqHy1ppBi4tEGJ7Y7
Yeah, even without Rite Aid here, Walgreens and CVS seem to be downsizing/closing a lot of stores around here. As Mike from HHR once put it, Houstonians love bargains and Walgreens/CVS aren't exactly known for bargains. With an abundance of supermarkets and other types of stores here, Walgreens/CVS don't even have a huge edge in convenience sales. Granted, Houston isn't the only place seeing these drug store closures, but we seem to be among the leaders in that regard. Walgreens for sure seems committed to replacing their stores with the Village Medical concept. It's possible that Walgreens might be around in 30-40 years, but perhaps in a very different form than they are now.