Hardee's / Sandy's Famous Hot Dogs, 825 Main Street: January 2017 17 comments
For some reason I haven't had a Sandy-dog in years. Ever since I started working from home again, I figured one day I would drive down to main for lunch and do it, but someshow there always seemed to be a deadline or some urgent problem that would make me reluctant to go that far. I guess if I want to do it now, it'll have to be Broad River and on a weekend..
According to The State this Sandy's had been open since 1989. I believe that before that, it may have been a Hardee's though I'm not sure. It was some sort of fast food at any rate. This closing is a bit curious as in March 2016 The State was reporting that after a student housing scare they had just put a good bit of money into the building and planned to stay for the long haul, while by December 2016 they had sold the property to the USC Development Foundation.
You can see a good picture of the place in operation here.
UPDATE 18 April 2017: Added "Hardee's" to the post title. Apparently this was the Hardee's franchaise that later moved to the corner of Blossom & Assembly.
UPDATE 14 March 2019 -- Now a Dominos Pizza:
UPDATE 22 January 2020: Update tags.
UPDATE 19 June 2021: Update tags again.
17 Responses to 'Hardee's / Sandy's Famous Hot Dogs, 825 Main Street: January 2017'
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Tom
4 Apr 17 at 10:26 am
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I haven't had a Sandy's dog in a while either. The last time was when their Parklane Road location was open.
I see Sandy's coupons from time to time and have noticed several of their locations have closed in recent years.
I wonder what's going on?Rick
4 Apr 17 at 2:15 pm
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An all beef dog such as Nathans or Hebrew National, deep fried until just before splitting the dog open, on a quality bun with homemade chili, yellow mustard, red or Vidalia onions chopped, homemade coleslaw and a dash or two of Texas Pete hot sauce. A few chips and...
Mmmm mmm... good. Better than on the grill.
Rick
4 Apr 17 at 6:56 pm
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Tom, was this location a Granby's at one time?
Joe Shlabotnik
4 Apr 17 at 7:25 pm
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Granby's was in the building behind it on College Street.
Tom
4 Apr 17 at 7:39 pm
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I've wondered the same thing as Rick. It seems that at one time there were a lot more of these scattered around town. They do have have some very good and big hot dogs, but it's just more than I'm willing to pay when I can get a double burger at Rush's for about the same price.
Homer
4 Apr 17 at 8:15 pm
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Wasn't Granby's where the Hunter Gatherer is now?
ED
6 Apr 17 at 6:00 pm
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Granby's was in the 'South Carolina Beer Association' building on College St.
badger
7 Apr 17 at 12:35 am
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I think Sandy's has just gotten too expensive... They used to publish coupons to pick off some of the frugal customers like me, but that stopped about 5 years ago. They do make a quality dog though.
Heath
8 Apr 17 at 10:56 am
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USC obviously made them an offer they could not refuse. Which building do y'all think will sell next to USC?
palmettoconnection
10 Apr 17 at 3:04 pm
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@Palmettoconnection - Interesting that you should ask that question. I was thinking the same thing when I passed a large warehouse on Shop Road just yesterday thinking to myself, This will probably be the next property USC will purchase.
Rick
10 Apr 17 at 4:27 pm
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I think they should go ahead and sell the entire state capitol complex to the university. What the hell, just sell them the entire downtown area and be done with it.
Homer
11 Apr 17 at 5:56 pm
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Hi Ted - been a while!
This Hardee's kept me alive while attending USC from '76-'80. They had an all-you-can-eat salad bar that was 99 cents. I would go in there broke and starving and eat till my jaws were tired.
Right after graduation I was still in there constantly since I had to go next door to Crowson Stone Printing a lot for work. (Now the Baptist student center) Started a lot of mornings with a bacon egg & cheese biscuit or two before going to pick up a proof or a box of business cards from Bill Kauric. He ran Crowson Stone and became a great friend to me.
The Sandy's story I heard from a couple of sources is that the founder was in real estate and was puzzled that no one wanted to buy or lease that space next to Cornell Arms. It was across the street from the Horseshoe -- in the center of thousands of hungry students! Why did no one see the potential? So he got tired of waiting and decided to take his own advice. He opened selling the simplest easiest thing he could think of, hot dogs and ice cream, with the idea that some smart person would see the potential of this location and grab it from him. The rest is history and he became king of the hot dog biz in Columbia rather than a real estate tycoon.
Hot dogs have a bad reputation these days. Everyone speaks with horror of how they're made and what they're made of. Bascially they are at least one generation out of style.
The reason I went to Sandy's was the crock of chicken bog they kept in back. That stuff was awesome. Save your life if you had a cold or flu.
Dennis
18 Apr 17 at 7:16 am
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Hi again Ted
pls remove my accidental post above and this one. Somehow I posted an address by accident.
Dennis
18 Apr 17 at 9:27 am
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FYI Richland County says this Hardee's was built in 1975, then moved to the southeast corner of Assembly & Blossom in 1989, which closed in 2005 when USC bought it.
Dennis
18 Apr 17 at 9:29 am
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I worked for Sandy's when this opened. It replaced the location in the old two story building on Sumter St. Contrary to some of the posts here, the first Sandy's store was in Lexington in the same shopping center as the Bi-Lo and the second store was the USC store. i don't live in S.C. anymore, but when I get to town, I do go by and get a slaw dog (or two). Sad to see this location closing, but the only thing constant is change.
Doc
24 Apr 17 at 3:07 pm
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My girlfriend in college had a part time job at the Hardee's at this location. I don't believe it was anything between Hardee's and Sandy's. I probably visited Sandy's the most when it was in the small house across from the Horseshoe.
I saw this article posted today stating that the three remaining locations will close by the end of the year.
https://www.thestate.com/living/food-drink/article238424438.html
fourlizards
16 Dec 19 at 11:19 pm
Ted, you are correct. It was a Hardee's originally, opening sometime in the early 1970s. It was often cited by city officials for air pollution. I may be wrong, but I think at one point it was something else between the time it was a Hardee's and Sandy's
BTW, the original Sandy's Location was next to the Cornell Arms on Sumter Street.