Archive for the ‘Hardee’s’ tag
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.
Hardee's / Bush River Bistro / The Wild Hare / Gametime Sports Grub & Catering, 5122 (Old) Bush River Road: July 2016 11 comments
These photos come courtesy of commenter Homer, whose gentle reminder prompts me to finally post them. Looking at them, I can certainly see the former Hardee's that both he and commenter Andrew mention. I am pretty sure I took some photos of my own when the place ceased being The Wild Hare, but apparently I never did a closing on that operation, and don't now have them to hand.
I've often wondered at this intersection where Old Bush River Road branches off from Saint Andrews Road. Given the odd way the main stretch of Bush River turns into Tram and the way the road picks up again here, some major work must have been done once.
Anyway, I'm guessing the Tiki Bar is *not* open.
(Hat tip to commenter Homer)
UPDATE 15 February 2017 -- Remodeling is underway:
UPDATE 11 March 2020: Added map icon.
UPDATE 19 June 2021: Update tags.
Hardee's, 415 Columbia Avenue (Lexington): August 2015 (moved) 3 comments
As mentioned by a number of commenters over the last several months (and in this State article), the Hardee's location at 415 Columbia Avenue in Lexington in front of the Bi-Lo has moved to 1105 West Main Street and the former building has been razed.
The razed spot will be rebuilt as a Captain D's. The new Hardee's site is the former location of Clamp's BP Station.
UPDATE 11 December 2015 -- The construction of the Captain D's on this spot has started:
UPDATE 8 June 2016 -- Here is the new location for this Hardee's:
UPDATE 19 June 2021: Adding tags and map icon.
Hardee's, 5417 Forest Drive: Mid March 2013 10 comments
I was quite surprised to see this Hardee's, more or less at the corner of Percival Road and Forest Drive, closed.
As far as I could tell driving by daily, it seemed to do a reasonable amount of business. What's more, this section of Forest Drive is now an Interstate exit zone, so it should have been drawing from more than just the local area.
My first thought was that the opening of Cookout just a few slots down the road was the cause. The problem with that theory is that Hardee's does a brisk breakfast business, and Cookout, as far as I know, doesn't have a breakfast menu.
The more daylight shots above are from commenter kholler: Thanks!
(Hat tip to commenters Mr. Hat and Kholler)
UPDATE 12 July 2013 -- As mentioned in the comments, this is to become a Sonic:
UPDATE -- The place opens for business this morning (9 Sept 2013) at 6AM. Here is some more of the work from a few weeks ago:
UPDATE 19 June 2021: Adding tags and map icon.
Hardee's Restaurant #11, 901 Harden Street: 3 May 2010 8 comments
This closing has been talked about long enough that I actually got these photos last year, knowing I would have to deploy them eventually. This Hardee's has been a fixture in the old Five Point's Sears parking lot for years. I think it may even date back to when Gene's Pig & Chick across College Street would have been its competition. (It certainly does not date back to Hardee's original space-age designs such as at Silver City or The Eggroll Station though).
This story from The State last year tells how the Hardee's is going to be replaced with a Chick-Fil-A, and how it will all be carefully landscaped in accordance to the new Five Points streetscaping guidelines. Color me unimpressed. You have only to compare US-17 as it passes through Mount Pleasant where everything is set-back so far and blends in so blandly that you can't even tell you are passing stores that want to sell you something with US-17 in the Myrtle Beach area where even failed and vacant storefronts are exuberant to see how guidelines can suck the life out of a road. Not to mention this quote:
"Chick-fil-A is a business of high quality and we anticipate this development will add great character to the already diverse and eclectic makeup of Five Points," she said.
Of really? Replacing one national fast-food chain (which is actually currently on the rebound) with another national fast-food chain will add character and diversity to Five Points? I guess character and diversity aren't what they once were..
(Hat tips to commenters Tom, Mike D, Larry & Jim)
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.
Hardee's / The Original Italian Pie, 3246 Forest Drive: July 2009 19 comments
Well, recent weeks have not been good to pizza operations on Forest Drive!
I liked The Original Italian Pie but found it rather frustrating in a couple of respects.
Why did I like it? Well, they had a quite good pizza, with ingredients like "kalamata olives" which, while getting more common, still are hard to find. The crust was not too thick but neither was it too thin and was chewy without being mushy. They also had bottles of olive oil on the tables to drizzle over the pizza, and the staff was friendly. In fact at the time I was going fairly often, they got to know me by sight, and would just bring out a pitcher of unsweet tea for me so I could read before and after my pizza without them having to keep making refill passes.
Why was it frustrating? The main thing was the hours. For various reasons, I am often uable to make supper before 9:30 at the earliest. That was OK initially, since while they closed at 9:00 during the week, Thur-Sat, they were open until 10:30 and I could drop by then.
After a few months however, they went into the deadly Well, we weren't too busy, so we closed the kitchen early cycle. This is a prime violation of rule #1!, and really ticks me off. I got caught in it a few times, then one night I thought I was safe as I was able to make it at 9:15, a full hour and 15 min before the posted closing and they still sprang it on me. I confess I got as argumentative as I ever do in a restaurant (which isn't much, but..). Luckily, I had the support of a feisty woman who had come in just behind me and we did get served. After that, they changed the hours posted on their door, leaving just a dash for the closing time if I recall correctly (which is, of course Sign #1), and I was not able to eat there at night anymore.
In fact I rarely got to eat there at all, since I don't usually have pizza for lunch during the week if I'm going to have to be awake and thinking during the afternoon, but I was able to go for Saturday or Sunday lunch from time to time. The closing of the Italian Pie at Sandhill was not a good sign, but didn't seem to have much effect on the Forest Drive store. However, the last time I was there, in early July, I believe, I did notice that Sign #6 had come into play: The olive oil bottles on each table were gone.
I don't know what happened in the end. As you can see from the pictures, the place is going to re-open as The Pizza Joint, so perhaps the owners just switched franchaises. That doesn't seem too likely to me however as TPJ is a "late night" chain, which was definitely not the strategy of The Italian Pie.
I encountered The Pizza Joint when I was working in Augusta. They have a location on Broad Street, and one night when it was too late to hit The Mellow Mushroom, I decided to check it out. Frankly, I wasn't too impressed since it's a New York style operation and NY is not my favorite pizza. The smallest pie was also 14-inches, which means that a single guy has to order by the slice, which I really don't like. (Also, that part of Broad Street was a good place to get panhandled).
I see that since I moved back here from Aiken, they have opened a branch there. I guess they are gradually moving East from Augusta. Perhaps if it works out here, they will hit Florence and Myrtle Beach..
They appear to be building a dining patio -- if they are able to get that done and open as the weather starts to cool down a bit, it should be very nice.
UPDATE 23 Aug 2009: Changed the post title to add Hardee's after being reminded in the comments that a Hardee's was on this lot (in a different building) before the Italian Pie.
UPDATE 19 June 2021: Adding tags and map icon. I should also now note that this building is currently The Pizza Joint and has been for quite a while.
Hardee's / Schlotzsky's / Panino Bakery and Cafe, 9724 Two Notch Road: 2004 12 comments
The bakery which was the first tenant I can recall in the Triangle Rent-a-Car building must have set some sort of record for opened and closed. I barely had time to notice that it was there, and then it wasn't. I think the concept was sort of Atlanta / Panera but with a drive-through. From this Richland County delinquent tax spreadsheet for 2004, which lists the business entity as Buns Spring Valley LLC, I'm guessing that the place was probably called Buns, though I can specifically remember that.
I don't know why they didn't make it, but my own theory, based on seeing the place but yet not stopping, is that the location was too hard to get too to make an attractive drive-through combined with the fact that the strip mall it's in is not really a "destination", and the fact of it's having a drive-through kind of devalued it if you were in the mood for a Panera type sit-down experience.
UPDATE 5 May 2009: Consensus in the comments is that this place was also a Schlotzsky's deli at one time, so I have added that to the post title.
UPDATE 7 Sep 2010: Got the correct name for "Buns" and updated the post title with Panino Bakery and Cafe. Also added Hardee's -- see the comments!
UPDATE 19 June 2021: Adding tags and map icon.
Hardee's Dutch Square (96 North Arrowwood Road) / 120 Veterans Road: 2000s (playground changes) 31 comments
In my mind, Hardee's has been going down hill since they got rid of Gilbert Giddyup & Speedy McGreedy, not to mention "charco" grilling. For years though, the real reason to stop at a Hardee's when you got off the Interstate rather than McDonalds or Burger King, was for the ice.
There are a number of different types of commercial ice makers for restaurants. Some make lenticular spherical sections, others make partially hollow cubes, and some make "chewy" ice. Honestly, I don't know why a restaurant would want anything but the last kind, but some do and did. Hardee's though could be counted on for the chewy ice for years and then in a fit of madness, they gave it up. Next they started emphasing chicken such that I couldn't even go into the stores any more because of the chicken smell. Finally they were bought out by Carl's Junior wandered aimlessly for years but of late seem to have grabbed onto a workable concept with the "thickburger" line (though I have yet to sample one).
Anyway, that's all besides the point to this pair of local playground changes sent in by commenter Melanie. The "before" shots come from her, and I took the "after" ones last weekend:
The tall metal man was the playground at the Hardees beside Dutch Square before they tore it down. I think this picture was taken 1995 give or take a year.
and:
Hardees ditched another of their coolest playgrounds sometime in the new millenia. Here is a pic taken in 1995-6 of the Hardees playground from Garners Ferry where I77 goes over. They had this playground at least since I was born because I remember it always being there.
The metal man is indeed way cool. I can only speculate that either the insurance became too burdensome, or playgrounds don't really fit in with the Carl's Junior conception of Hardee's.
UPDATE 21 April 2009: Added "Dutch Square" to the post title.
UPDATE 18 December 2012: Changed the location for the "Garners Ferry" Hardees from 7942 Garners Ferry Road to 120 Veterans Road. (The Hardee's in question is not actually on Garners Ferry, but a side-street, and the Garners Ferry Address is another Hardee's entirely).
UPDATE 10 April 2019 -- This location has now closed, the closing is here. Also updated tags and added map icon.