Best Known Local Lindale Coffee House

January 4th, 2010

Rockwell’s Coffee Brewery

Lindale’s coffee shop, Rockwells, may not live up to the taste of Starbucks but it is the most popular coffee shop in the Lindale area. It is a great place to hang out with your friends. Nearby in Mount Sylvan is an even more interesting Coffee Shop known as Mount Sylvan Coffee and Mercantile that is also worth checking out.

Enjoy a hot cup of coffee, or one of the “classics” such as a latte, cappuccino or espresso. The drink menu may not be as long as Starbucks’ but you will be able to find something that you want. For the non coffee drinkers Rockwells offers different teas and Fruit drinks. Also if you are hungry they serve snacks, desserts, and even meals. Come enjoy a sandwich or salad in a comfortable and relaxing atmosphere.
The artsy atmosphere makes it comfortable to hang out. Couches and comfortable chairs helps when you are trying to get that midterm paper done, or to play games with your family or friends. Friday and Saturdays there is live music. Games are available there to make your visit more enjoyable.

Tags: Cappuccino, Coffee Drinkers, Coffee House, Coffee Shop, Comfortable Chairs, Couches, Cup Of Coffee, Desserts, Drink Menu, Espresso, Fruit Drinks, Lindael Coffee Shop, Lindale Area, Live Music, Music Games, Rockwell, Rockwells, Rockwells Lindale TX, Saturdays, Snacks, Starbucks, Teas
Posted in Coffee | No Comments »

Holiday Reading

December 17th, 2009

Well, Christmas is upon us again and we’re all busy rushing around looking for those perfect gifts for the people in our lives. As someone who grew up in a family of teachers, books have always been a huge part of our holiday giving. For our family a welcome part of the holiday experience has always been taking the time to sit down crack open some new reading. I’ve written fairly extensively about Tyler’s area bookstores, but given the season I thought it might be advantageous to our readers to quickly revisit some of our better establishments for those looking for some seasonal literature.

Barnes and Noble

B & N in Tyler always has some great deals for Christmas. If you’re looking for the latest best sellers you can’t do much better the retail giant. They usually offer about a twenty or thirty percent discount on whatever happens to be hot at the time. They also have a huge selection of calendars, cards and other gifty items. Another advantage of shopping there is the café. The Starbucks franchise sells everything any coffee addict might want, from travel mugs to bags of coffee beans. The one disadvantage (if it bothers you), are the crowds. As with most retail stores; the Barnes and Noble does a large percentage of its business at this time of year. If you don’t mind the rush however, this is always a great place to check out.

Fireside Books

For those looking for literature on the more unique side I would suggest Checking out Fireside Books at 110 East Houston. This is a locally owned bookseller specializing in used and rare books. The store is not as trendy or seasonal as B & N, but for those on our Christmas lists who value those more obscure or hard to find titles this is good place to check out.

Pea Picker Books

I my opinion Pea Picker is not a store for those bigger gifts. The business carries largely paperback books of varying quality and is probably not the place for nicer purchases. If you’re looking for stocking stuffers or more last minute items you may have some success, but don’t expect to find too many gems.

Lifeway Christian Stores

Lifeway is another good seasonal store (not unlike B & N actually) with a Christian theme. The store carries the latest Christian literature, music and gifts. They also sell mugs and coffee. The new location is a beautiful store, and will undoubtedly be a busy place in Tyler this Christmas.

The Scroll

I must confess that the Scroll is one of my area Favs. It is a Christian bookstore with a wide variety of literature. They carry all kinds of music, gifts, mugs and other items with a religious theme. The staff is there to offer any assistance the customer may require. This area business has been a staple in Tyler for a lot of years so expect a busy store.

There are a few other Booksellers in town but these are probably the best ones to visit for the holiday shopping. For those who require a more detailed description of the stores listed above, visit the Tyler Blog section of this site and look for the following titles: A large bookseller with local appeal, Still think there are no are no old bookstores in Tyler, The Scroll Christian Bookstore in Tyler, Pea Picker Books in Tyler, and The New Lifeway in Tyler.

Tags: Barnes and Noble, Bookseller, Christmas Books, Christmas Lists, Coffee Addict, Coffee Beans, East Houston, Fireside Books, Holiday Experience, Holiday Reading, New Reading, Paperback Books, Pea Picker, Perfect Gifts, Rare Books, Retail Giant, Retail Stores, Starbucks, Starbucks Franchise, Teachers Books, Time Of Year, Travel Mugs, Tyler TX Books
Posted in Book Stores | No Comments »

West Loop Development in Tyler

November 24th, 2009

Update: The shopping complex in Tyler TX that houses such places as Da Hippie and DragonBytes has gone through a massive renovation since this article. Bravo! (said in a snobby accent) The new commercial facility renovation looks great!

Over the past few years, I have been excited to watch the economic growth and expansion occurring in West Tyler. The west loop has seen numerous decayed and crime ridden businesses closed and the real estate sold to make room for legitimate, contributing entrepreneurs. We’ve seen the likes of Wingstop, Subway, Walgreens, Starbucks, Papa Murphy’s, and numerous others, set up shop along the west loop and sixty four. Even the west loop Wal-Mart, as messy and sometimes run-down as it is, has brought with it quite a bit of development since its arrival around five years ago. It all goes to validate the maxim that a rising tide lifts all boats, something most of our current political leaders have either forgotten, or chosen to ignore. The expansion also proves that a great way to foster healthy communities is to allow healthy individuals and businesses to succeed. Give people the opportunity to buy up infected areas and they will purge the corrupted property and bring in new dollars.

With this principle in mind, I must express a certain amount of disappointment that up until this point, the West Loop and thirty one has been largely left out of the recent renaissance. I’ve long been embarrassed by the look and content of thirty one west. It has been Tyler’s ugly back door for quite sometime. It has been, and remains my hope that the development of the Cascades and the new Airport will help buoy property values and bring improvements to this ugly highway.

When the developers do decide to take the plunge and move towards Chandler, I would like to suggest a few eyesores I eagerly await seeing bulldozed completely. I do not even care whether or not they are replaced with more reputable establishments… Well that’s not true, I do hope for improvements. However a pile of rubble is preferable to these businesses (and I use the term loosely). The originally named “Sports Club,”(once named the Unicorn Club), as well as close neighbors “Da Hippy” (I can barely contain my contempt as I type this), the “Dragon’s Byte,” (their spelling not mine) and the nondescript corner gas station, have long been a breeding ground for drug use, crime, third rate tattoo artists, and general filth. The real estate is located at the corner of thirty one and Greenbriar, where a healthier more upstanding business could potentially make a successful go of it. As developments like the Cascades expand toward highway thirty one, properties like the ones I mentioned could be a source of prosperity for some entrepreneurial risk taker. The day “Da Hippy” is bulldozed I’ll be there with popcorn to watch.

Tags: Back Door, Establishments, Eyesores, Facility Renovation, Healthy Communities, Hippie, Hippy, Massive Renovation, Maxim, Move Towards, Papa Murphy, Plunge, Political Leaders, Property Values, Rising Tide, Rubble, Shopping Complex, Sports Club, Starbucks, Tyler TX, Unicorn Club, wal-mart, Walgreens, West Loop, West Loop Development Tyler TX, West Tyler
Posted in Tyler Businesses | 9 Comments »

McStarbucks in Tyler

November 17th, 2009

McDonalds and Burger King have always seemed like pretty much the same place to me. The menus are nearly identical, and aside from the differences in cooking method, the food is interchangeable. In Tyler however the two franchises appear to be going in opposite directions.

Burger King on Broadway seems to turn a tidy profit. They keep a fairly steady flow of customers. The west loop B.K. on he other hand practically requires a police escort to enter the drive through. The restaurant is messy, and full of unsavory customers. From a safety standpoint, I would avoid that location at all costs.

McDonalds in Tyler is making a lot of improvements however. Their Broadway locations have been entirely remodeled after their new café theme. Flat screen TVs and interactive touch screen computer games are there to entertain both adults and children. A visit to McDonalds is almost like hanging out at the local pub or coffee shop.

Overall, I like what the chain is doing in terms of improving their stores and trying to appeal more to adults. At the end of the day however, they still serve largely Big Macs and fries. Oh I know they have salads, smoothies and gourmet coffee now but it’s still McDonald’s food. There’s a lot of competition in the city of Tyler Texas for your fast food dollar and I’m just not sure that turning the fast food icon into Starbuck’s is going to earn more of that market. Still I applaud the store’s efforts. The restaurants are quite nice!

Tags: Burger King, City Of Tyler, City Of Tyler Texas, Coffee Shop, Cooking Method, Flat Screen Tvs, Food Dollar, Food Icon, Gourmet Coffee, Interactive Touch, Local Pub, mcdonalds, mcdonalds Tyler Texas, Police Escort, Safety Standpoint, Smoothies, Starbuck, Starbucks, Steady Flow, Tidy Profit, Touch Screen Computer, West Loop
Posted in Fast Food | No Comments »

Recent Posts