New restaurants and one big business coming to town.

[Lincoln6Echo]

OK, one of the questions here on this board was what should the old Wal Mart building become.

Well, that has been answered, in kind of a big way, really. Rural King has bought not only the Wal Mart building, but the whole ArrrowHead Point complex, according to Ozment Real Estate.

Also, as any Harrisburg resident should know is that PIZZA HUT is building a new building. BUT, what you may not know is that it will be a duel restaurant. NOTE: the size of the place...it's HUGE!! So what will the other half be? A new TACO BELL. Yes...Taco Bell is coming back.(FYI, the same company owns the Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC franchises.)

And then here's the kicker...the old Taco Bell building...guess what's supposedly happening there? A TACO JOHN'S is going in there. Yes...that's right...the alternative Taco joint.
Personally, I like Taco John's food better than Taco Bell, as they put more stuff in their food items.

So what does that mean? The little Taco joint at the Poplar St. Hucks is going to be getting some major competition soon.

[SI Photographer]

Now if Harrisburg could just get a Target or something else to compete with Walmart. Boy that would be nice. Don't get me wrong...I'm a country girl and very excited about Rural King but I would like to have somewhere else to go besides Walmart without having to drive 30-45 minutes to Marion or Paducah.

[Lincoln6Echo]

Well, turns out that those "rumors" I heard about the new Pizza Hut weren't entirely true. According to a Daily Register article a few days ago, the new building will NOT be a dual Pizza Hut/Taco Bell restaurant at all. It's just gonna be one HUGE PIzza Hut.

According to the article, the owner of Pizza Hut says that they have simply outgrown the old store. He says that it may have been adequate for 1977, but not for 2009. With product expansion and the needed storage space for all that product, the old store was just not big enough. One thing alone is the number of doughs they use. In '77 they just had one...now, they have eight. Plus now with all these Tuscani Pastas, chicken wings and the such, the old store is just to small.

So what's the new store going to be like? Basically double the size of the old one. The salad/buffet bar is going to be twice the size and off to the side instead of in the middle. The kitchen area twice the size. Employees double from about 25 now to 50.

The store will also get away from the corporate PH look and go for a local flavor. I'd assume they'll have pictures on the wall of old downtown H'burg, etc. Similar to what the Townhall and SIC has.

[three]

Was in town last weekend and noticed there'still a rent sign at the old Taco Bell. Any other news on this from anyone?

[Lisa]

I miss k-mart.

[Lincoln6Echo]

three wrote:

Was in town last weekend and noticed there'still a rent sign at the old Taco Bell. Any other news on this from anyone?

Unfortunately no...

However, there is a rumor that Taco Johns may put in a store in the old Old National Bank drive-in at the corner of Commerical (Rt. 45) and Raymond St.

And according to a Daily Register article about new highway contruction from last Friday, there are a couple of companies each interested in the old Wal-Mart building as well as the old IGA. Three of the four companies wish to remain "secret", but one was willing to reveal itself as Safeway Foods for the IGA building.

New Pizza Hut is nearing completion. Still a bit of work to do on the parking lot, but that shouldn't be too difficult to finish off. Plus they have to demolish the old store.