Hamburger Joe's in Surfside Is Down to Its Last Weekend, and the Memorabilia Goes to Auction Next

"You truly are family to us." That line came from the Cherney family's farewell post on Facebook, as MyHorryNews reported on Nov. 2. Famous Hamburger Joe's at 1410 U.S. 17 Business serves its last meal in Surfside Beach on Sunday, Nov. 15.

Service ends Sunday, Nov. 15. On Thursday, Nov. 19, the tables, the tap system and the memorabilia on the walls will be sold one lot at a time. The family that ran the place retires with the first date, and the room it filled is broken up on the second.

A Borrowed Name With a Surfside Life of Its Own

The Hamburger Joe's name started up the coast. Joe Brooks opened the original in North Myrtle Beach on Oct. 11, 1989, after earlier ventures that included 220 Seafood, White Point Seafood and Joe's Bar & Grill. That location has been open 37 years, and the Surfside closing doesn't touch it.

The Post and Courier describes the Surfside restaurant as a local franchise of the original. It has been on U.S. 17 Business for about two decades, and Tony and Julie Cherney have owned it for the last ten of those years. The Cherneys ran it for half its life, and their retirement is the reason the family gave for closing. WMBF reported the same Nov. 15 date, along with the family's thanks to the community.

The menu came from the original, and Surfside added its own touches. The Post and Courier lists hand-patted burgers, wings in the famous Gold Wing sauce, fried onion rings and cheap cold draft beer. The restaurant's own site calls the Gold a sweet-and-hot sauce. It also says the Surfside menu offered burgers "all the way," which here means slaw, chili and onions. Anyone planning a last order before Nov. 15 now has a short list.

Shift manager Michael Sheppard has worked at the Surfside location for ten years. On the day of the announcement he told MyHorryNews, "I'm still letting it sink in. We just found out today. There's a lot of mixed emotions." He said the property has been sold.

The Second Closing Happens at 1 p.m. on Nov. 19

When the owners retire and the building sells, the last piece left is everything inside it. The Myrtle Beach Auction Company has scheduled a liquidation sale at the Surfside restaurant for 1 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 19. Its Facebook announcement puts it plainly: "Everything must be sold." According to MyHorryNews, the lots include:

• Tables and chairs
• Commercial coolers and refrigeration units
• A refrigerated beer tap system
• Bar equipment
• Televisions
• Wall décor and restaurant memorabilia

Pre-bidding opened Nov. 3 at MyrtleBeachAuction.com, so the sale is already underway online. The Post and Courier reported that customers commenting on the farewell post asked how to get some of the memorabilia off the walls. The auction is how.

The coolers and tap lines will probably go to restaurant operators. The wall décor is different. A Surfside regular can't buy the restaurant back, but they can take home a piece of the room it filled for twenty years.

The Corridor Runs on Owners, and New Ones Are Arriving

The pattern behind the closing shows up all along this stretch of U.S. 17. When a place belongs to particular people, its timeline follows theirs. Most of the newer businesses on the town's radar look the same way, with a named owner behind each one.

The Town of Surfside Beach's Business Committee agenda for Oct. 13 lists a new restaurant license for Verona Osteria at 1450 Hwy 17 Business N, with Bledar Hysenllari as the contact. That address is just up the road from Hamburger Joe's. The same agenda set Verona's ribbon cutting for Thursday, Oct. 22, at 11:30 a.m. It also covered three October ribbon cuttings for small local operations:

1. Beach Baskets by Lauren, 17 Hwy 17 S, on Oct. 8
2. K-Bar Farm's Homestead Junction, 823 Surfside Drive, on Oct. 8
3. South Paw Rescue, 825 1st Avenue North, on Oct. 18

The largest newcomer on the calendar comes from Calabash. The Myrtle Beach Sun News reported on Aug. 3 that Christine Cheffo and Brian Bonsignore plan a second Bagel Dock Cafe at 2016 Highway 17 S, aiming for early spring 2027. The Calabash shop makes more than 35 kinds of handmade bagels and serves sandwiches such as whitefish, Nova lox and the LEO. According to MyHorryNews, the site sits across from Ocean Lakes Family Campground.

Cheffo told that paper why she chose this end of the Strand. "Surfside is a real family community, and we love working together with families and other people," she said, adding that the shop plans family-oriented additions to the menu. It's the same move the Hamburger Joe's name made two decades ago. A business proves itself somewhere else on the Grand Strand, then brings a second location down U.S. 17 into Surfside.

No buyer or new use has been named for 1410 U.S. 17 Business. For now, the Hamburger Joe's building is one more address in the turnover on this corridor.

After the Last Plate, the Next Time Everyone Is Out

The farewell post asked people to "come see us before we go." For a lot of households, the restaurant was a regular stop, and that stop ends Nov. 15. Surfside's next big shared evenings come a few weeks later. Visit Myrtle Beach's holiday calendar lists the Surfside Beach tree lighting for Thursday, Dec. 3, from 4 to 8 p.m. The tree is lit at 6:30, and admission is free. The Surfside Beach Christmas Parade is listed for Saturday, Dec. 12, at 2 p.m. along Ocean Boulevard and Surfside Drive near the fishing pier.

Until then, two dates matter. Gold wings and all-the-way burgers are available at 1410 U.S. 17 Business through Sunday, Nov. 15. The last chance to take home a piece of the place is at 1 p.m. on Nov. 19.

I've watched this stretch of U.S. 17 change my whole life, and I keep track of every old favorite that closes and every new owner who moves in. If you win something from those walls and want to talk about where it goes, or about anything else changing in Surfside, I'm always glad to hear from you. Megan Parker: Let's Connect.