First Subway Location (where Was It, Is It Still Open, Who Opened It + More)

Subway became popular in the 1970s. By the end of the 1970s, Subway had already expanded from New York to a few cities in New England. Eventually, the fast-food chain began to move nationwide, and has been expanding as fast as the sandwich recipe.

The first Subway location was opened in 1971 in Northbrook, Illinois at the corner of Dundee Road & North Avenue which was owned by the New York-based Subways Inc.

Since the opening of the first Subway restaurant, the chain has grown in popularity with locations opening all over the world.

The first franchise was opened in 1976, by two brothers, Fred and Sam Talarico in Boca Raton, Florida.

First Subway Location

Subway opened its first store in the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut, in the year 1965. The first Subway store was opened by Fred DeLuca, a doctor, and Dr. Peter Buck. After that, they added the name “Subway”.

There is more information on the history of the Subway chain, including who started Subway and when Subway first opened, just keep reading!

Where Was The First Subway Location?

A subway line is a subway (or underground) railway line that is built with the specific purpose of carrying passengers.

The name was changed to Pete’s Super Submarines after Buck died, and DeLuca sold the shop in 1976.

The first restaurant was called the “Submarine Room,” and sold sandwiches.

By 2014, Subway opened more than 400 stores in 30 U.S. states.

In the late 90s, Subway started offering a wide selection of meals to customers, including subs and salads.

The only difference between the two is that the first location was made to look similar to the original Subway. This may be due to the fact that the franchise was originally located in Connecticut, but had to relocate due to the “soup kitchen” restriction imposed by then-New York Mayor, Fiorello Laguardia. Laguardia was a fan of the franchise and was so fond of it that he even attempted to get the restaurant’s original name back: “Subway”. The restaurants became so popular that he even attempted to get a franchise agreement with the franchise owners, but was unsuccessful.

When Was The First Subway Opened?

Subway opened on August 28th, 1965. On the first day, Subway opened. It sold 312 sandwiches. They were priced between $0.49 and $0.69.

When Did Subway Become A Franchise?

Subways first store was opened in August, 1980 with a total of three locations: a restaurant in East Hanover, New Jersey, a restaurant in New Canaan, Connecticut, and a restaurant in Wallingford.

In the summer of 1974, the franchise was sold for $1 million to an owner who would later start the New York Subway chain.

That said, Fred DeLuca, Peter Buck, and David Zaslav sought to open 32 stores in ten years, but realized that they would not achieve their goal. So, they franchised Subway to open more stores.

Subway only owns a small percentage of franchise stores, and the company doesn’t buy out individual franchises.

Is The First Subway Location Still Open?

The first Subway location in Bridgeport, Connecticut, is no longer open. It has been shut down for some time now, since 2001. The official Subway website lists the last location as Bridgeport, CT.

A new Bridgeport Subway restaurant, with the same design as the original Bridgeport Subway, was opened in 2019 in downtown Bridgeport.

Who Opened The First Subway Location?

The first Subway was opened by Fred DeLuca. He was born on July 21, 1892.

At that time, he didn’t have a lot of money and it was tough. So, he started the Subway business and hoped it would turn into something great.

To get started, DeLuca was loaned $1,000 by a family friend, Dr. Peter Buck, who had a Ph.D. in physics. He also let him use one of his labs, with one stipulation: no experiments involving the atom bomb.

The Subway restaurant was named after Buck for “Pete’s Super Submarines” as the restaurant’s specialty was submarine sandwiches.

Lunch for Buck – The second Subway restaurant, this one in New Castle, Delaware, was named Lunch for Buck.

They expanded the Subway chain, and even started their own Subway sub-company, “Subway Restaurants, Inc.”.

When Did Subway Open On The West Coast?

The first Subway to open on the West Coast was in 1978. That’s right. Fresno, California, is actually the first Subway to open on the West Coast and it was actually franchised.

The company’s first move was to break into the East Coast market at a low price.

When Did Subway Become International?

The company was named Subway because the first store opened near the Grand Central Terminal in New York City.

In 2012, Subway opened a restaurant in London, the first in the U.K. The company has opened more than 6,000 stores worldwide.

How Many Subway Locations Are There Today?

Subway restaurants are located in 40,000 different places around the world. These locations can be found in every continent of the world. The United States has over 20,000 Subway locations. The United States has more Subway locations than any other nation in the world.

There are more than 6,500 Subway locations in the United States, which is more than any other fast food or restaurant chain.

Is Subway Privately Owned?

A. By its own admission, The Subway Corporation of America is a franchisee of SUBWAY, and has been since 1977.

Franchising allows Subway to have faster expansion and continue to open and operate stores all over the globe. It also allows them to make their money back quicker on their initial investment as well as make more money as their stores continue to operate.

Read more about how much Subway is and who owns it in our post about what is the price of a single Subway sandwich.

Conclusion

The first Subway restaurant was opened by Peter Buck and Joe Salvo for $1.50 (approximately $14) a foot, or about 25 cents a bagel. And that’s when the business took off.

A few years later, Fred DeLuca and Dr. Peter Buck decided to open up their own business and opened up the fast food restaurant known as Subway.

The next subway system was built in 1976 in the Boston area and was in Roxbury, Massachusetts.

This was a big challenge for Subway, and they were not allowed to sell food in all of these locations. They ended up opening a lot of stores and they are successful.