Opened on Wednesday June 28th, 1967 (two days before the grand opening), Sandy's in Rock Island, Illinois still exists as a Hardees today in 2004 thanks to the excellent placement of the restaurant in the community.
The original Sandy's still stands but it unrecognizable as Sandy's. The beams and fins are completely covered by facade. In the above picture, featured in 1967 in the Rock Island Argus before Sandy's grand opening, one can see the original classic Sandy's building, complete with sign and fins, however it is encompassed by what is known as the winter cover. This is a glass covering which surrounded the original walk-up drive-in concept and provided shelter for patrons as well as indoor seating. This was neccessary due to increasing competition in the fast food industry as well as the fact that it was the right thing to do for sales during inclimate weather.
Located in both a residential as well as commercial area, this Sandy's was near Augustana College, a national college famous for its football teams. It was also located close to an International Harvester Plant which undoubtedly gave the workers their favorite place to eat on the way to and from work. Rock Island Sandy's employeed about thirty part time workers. By now, Sandy's was operating in twenty states and this was the 129th location!
Ted Vlahos was the owner of Sandy's Rock Island. He was the owner of the incredibly successful Moline, Illinois location and had the rights to open Sandy's on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River in the Iowa/Illinois Quad City area. Ted was a business genious. One of his principles was to appeal to children. He knew that if they started early in life eating at his restaurants, he had a customer for life due to his high standards of service and quality food.
One way he reached children was through in store special promotions. Another was by advertising on local children's television programming. Mr. Vlahos advertised on the wildly popular Captain Ernie's showboat on local powerhouse television station WOC-TV. Captain Ernie's showboat featured Captain Ernie (Mr. Ernie Mimms), a cast of characters including a hand puppet who daily gave away a case of Mountain Dew, classic Bugs Bunny shorts as well as the Three Stooges. Mr. Vlahos chose to be a sponsor on Captain Ernie's showboat and became lifelong friends with Mr. Mimms. When Mr. Vlahos was ready to open his Rock Island Sandy's location, he called upon Captain Ernie to appear at the grand opening.
Ted's new location stole the momentum from the blocks away newly opened Mr. Quick Hamburgers as well as the nearby established Henry's Drive-In location drawing families from a ninety mile radius during the grand opening!
Also on hand for the grand opening was the current reigning Miss Moline, Pamela Hasselbusch, and a chance to meet Miss Sandy herself! Balloons and sixteen bicycles were given away free - one every hour on the hour starting at 12 noon to 7 p.m. during the grand opening. The lucky winners were seven boys, seven girls and two adults who received tandum bikes!
Below is an advertisement from this location which included Sandy's greatest promotion, the Sandy's Scottish dancing girl glass. In this promotion, one would receive the glass full of Sandy's famous triple thick shake just by purchasing a burger and french fry! These glasses can be found occasionally on ebay for anywhere between $4 and $10. There is another glass as well which features the newer Sandy's girl icon head on it from the early 1970s.
Sandy's continued the competition against McDonalds with this ad encouraging families with the benefits of eating out. The caption at the bottom of the ad reads: Think about it.. doesn't the family deserve a night out? (This ad ran around 1970 and was a take-off on McDonald's successful "you deserve a break today" campaign). If they do they deserve all the good eatin waiting at Sandy's - hamburgers, fries, soft drinks, shakes, our famous Super Sandwiches, the Hilo and Big Scot - and prices that don't take the fun out of eating out. (Sandy's theme at the time was (Sandy's puts the fun into eating out"). See for yourself... soon.. at Sandy's.
Sandy's continued their theme of "come as you are.. hungry" into the 1970's. The character in the bathtub represents that no matter where you are or what you are doing, when you are hungry, go immediately to Sandy's. The character is also singing the theme which actually was a jingle on Sandy's television and radio commercials.
This is a picture of Rock Island's walk-up window. Rock Island Sandy's started as a walk-up and later converted to sit down seating.
If you have any memorabilia, pictures or stories of Sandy's in Rock Island, Illinois, the Quad Cities or elsewhere, please email me!