Hardee's, 550 Assembly Street: Early 2000s 22 comments
There was nothing particularly noteworthy about the Hardee's which once sat at the corner of Blossom & Assembly Streets, but it's a memory of a somewhat less grandiose scheme of things in that area.
I do remember two things in particular about it:
1) It was the first place I've ever seen ruin a toll-house cookie. I stopped there once feeling a bit snackish and could not finish the thing. It was like they cooked it on the same griddle with the burgers or something. At the time at least, Hardee's could do sweet, something they proved with their cinnamon-raisin biscuit, but not, apparently, after 10:30 am..
2) While the restaurant was on the way down, and maybe after it closed, the side of the parking lot facing Assembly street was filled with used cars for sale.
It's not clear to me what they are building, or going to build, there, but it couldn't have worse cookies...
UPDATE 19 June 2021: Several things. First, this building has long since been razed, and now the property is Innovation Center. Second, I will be adding the correct street address to the post title, third, I will be updating the tags and, finally I will be adding a map icon.
22 Responses to 'Hardee's, 550 Assembly Street: Early 2000s'
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Mike
29 Oct 09 at 12:59 am
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Gibbes was on the other side of Assembly wasn't it?
At any rate, the Hardee's lot did have used cars, with the Hardee's building there. I don't think it was "official" -- you could look at all the cars, and nobody would come bother you.
ted
29 Oct 09 at 1:06 am
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Yes, the new car lot and service department was across Blossom St. from the Coliseum. The used car lot was across Assembly from the main complex.
Mike
29 Oct 09 at 5:44 am
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I've always thought it is very strange that a McDonald's, a Burger King, and two Hardee's that were all virtually on the campus of a big university could not make enough money to stay open. I would suspect deeper real estate issues except that when these places close nothing significant relaces tham.
Dennis
29 Oct 09 at 7:43 am
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The used cars for sale were private sellers that parked their wares on a busy corner. Similar things happened at the Kmart on Chas. HWY and the abandoned Kroger (now a furniture store) across from the old Wally World on US 1. The cops/owners stopped that practice in those locations. i suspect the same scenario played out at Hardee's.
Dennis, I find that strange, too. lease rates must have been an issue.
jamie
29 Oct 09 at 7:48 am
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I never realized there were cars for sale. I thought it was just students parking their cars there. I think at some point a few years back somebody was using it as a political headquarters.
Mr Bill
29 Oct 09 at 8:52 am
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I think it was Gibb's Used Car Lot.. or it may have said "OK Used Cars" but I dont remember. But it was there long before Hardee's came into the picture. There also used to be a very LONG time ago in the mid 60's and earlier a Sinclair Gas Station on the other corner across from the used car lot. That's where I got my inflatable "Dino" Dinasaur toy that they were selling or giving away with a full tank of gas or something.. I think that was back in 1964 or there of..
Del
29 Oct 09 at 11:30 am
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The McDonald's closed because it didn't have a drive-thru. The Burger King closed because the franchise owner got out of the business and closed all of his BK's. The Hardee's on Main St. probably closed because it too didn't have a drive-thru. The second location was a bad choice because of the traffic patterns--it was only convenient if you were going north on Assembly or east on Blossom.
In contract, the Wendy's further up the street is still thriving.
Mike
29 Oct 09 at 1:06 pm
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Mike, I did not know that Hardee's on Main did not have a drive through. So Sandy's added one? I agree w/ you on the Assembly Street one. Very difficult to manuever. Also, Hardee's was in the tank for awhile. Remember when their business plan was that they dumped all food except Thick Burgers? (Roast Beef, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, etc). That did not last too long. They have since joined the Taco Bell mentality. Cheap drunk food.
Jonathan
29 Oct 09 at 1:48 pm
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Yes, they added a bump-out to the side of the building.
Mike
29 Oct 09 at 3:46 pm
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The Hardee's in Kingstree still serves fried chicken. I guess it's because there's no KFC or other fried chicken chain in town.
Dave
29 Oct 09 at 5:05 pm
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One of the last times I went to this Hardee's, I got a burger without a beef patty; I just thought it was off-center until the third bite. After this one closed, I started going to the Five Points Hardee's (which is or will be closed soon for another Chick-fil-a), until I got a burger there with no patty. Probably healthier, but not as tasty. But how do you do that?
ray l
24 Feb 10 at 11:01 pm
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This land is currently deemed chimerical property by USC for use in the Discovery/Horizon Inna Vista deal. The land beside the current Public Health building(old Carolina Inn) is also being set aside for that use.
carolinacoliseumfan
26 Jan 12 at 4:26 pm
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Hardee's on S Main
http://digital.tcl.sc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/rmaxey/id/277/rec/1807
tonkatoy
17 Dec 14 at 12:24 pm
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Ha! Hardee's Home of the Huskee
Terry
17 Dec 14 at 3:22 pm
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Dang, I had totally forgotten about the Huskee. Does anyone remember the details about this burger? Was it a Whopper competitor?
Homer
18 Dec 14 at 12:27 am
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Nice shot!
What was going on at the State House?
ted
18 Dec 14 at 1:34 am
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^Building the underground parking garage.
tonkatoy
18 Dec 14 at 8:12 am
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The Huskee was similar to Whopper. They also had a jr. Huskee that was similar to a Big Mac.
Tom
21 Dec 14 at 10:41 am
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What I miss is the Dairy Queen Braizer Burger. I enquired about a Dairy Queen franchise and the information they sent me indicated I would need one million liquid to own a franchise.
There are no Dairy Queen restaurants in central South Carolina that sell brazier burgers, the franchise fee may be the reason.
I was in Georgia about two months ago and bought one.
It reminded me of a Sonic burger.Rick
21 Dec 14 at 8:36 pm
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To me any fast food burger that's charbroiled beats the other hands down (except for Edna's). I haven't had a Dairy Queen burger since the one left the corner of St. Andrews and Ashland Rd. And that was probably around 40 years ago!!!!
Homer
22 Dec 14 at 12:32 am
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Finally going through the last season of Mad Men and it made me wonder. Was there ever a "Burger Chef" here? I remember commercials for them while in Pittsburgh. Don't remember ever seeing one. Looking them up on the Wiki, I see that Hardees absorbed most of them and the last one shut down some time in 1993.
Mr BO
28 Oct 15 at 11:39 am
Could you be remembering the Gibbes VW used car lot that used to be on that corner? The Hardees was built after Gibbes moved out to Broad River Road in the early '90s.