Serving Subs With a Side of History

 

Welcome to Olean, NY- at one point in time home to four different Subway restaurants. Although now down to three, this particular Subway location has the most interesting story behind it as it has undergone a number of events that have effected its business. Originally located elsewhere, (see picture below) this location opted to relocate down the road and open in a former Pizza Hut.

Below is a picture of the former Pizza Hut (when it was abandoned)

Picture Courtesy of Auction Management Corporation.

For some unknown reason, the now relocated Subway opted to use a new at the time 'Subway Cafe' concept. From what I can tell, it would appear that the 'Subway Cafe' concept was a limited prototype and something that only a handful of locations did.What was a Subway Cafe? Read on to find out....

The Pizza Hut frame sign being reused. As you'll see below, a more permanent sign was installed later.

What is so special about Subway Cafe? Well, it offered a lot more beverage options:

....and a bit more options to choose from in terms of baked goods:

The other noticeable thing is that there was more seating than at the usual normal Subway and it had a 'real' fireplace.

Eventually the cafe branding was dropped entirely therefore making this a normal Subway.

So that covers that, but wait there's more history to cover. In 2018, this Subway experienced a fire and a result the building was torn down. But that didn't deter the owners as they decided to rebuild. So in an interesting turn of events, this location found itself featuring a new concept that a lot of other locations did not yet have. To wrap this post up, I leave you with pictures of the new modern concept.