Sandwich shop shutters.
One of the last remaining local Blimpie sandwich shops has closed. The freestanding Blimpie at Toco Hills shopping center closed a few weeks ago, although it remains listed as "open" on the company's website. If memory serves, the Toco Hills Blimpie eatery had been in business for over 20 years. With Jimmy Johns now located within the center, adjacent to Publix, and a Subway closeby, Blimpie was operating on borrowed time.
The Blimpie at Toco Hills did have a drive-thru window, a rarity for the brand and the segment, but even that could not save the stale business from closing.
A peek into the restaurant's window this week reveals basically all has been removed from the restaurant aside from a single toilet left behind and now in plain view.
Blimpie began in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1964, and is today owned by Kahala Corporation and is based in Scottsdale, Arizona. At its peak in the early 2000s, Blimpie had about 2,000 locations, today the chain reportedly has just under 600 locations.
Subway, the sandwich industry leader, started in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1965, and today has about 43,000 locations across the globe.