The downtown Subway restaurant, 330 Albert Ave., has closed and relocated to an Okemos Wal-Mart store, its franchise owner said.
A saturation of East Lansing Subway locations and the opportunity to move into the Wal-Mart, which attracts high-traffic volumes and has "favorable rent factors," enticed owner Ken Adams to make the decision to move in late August.
Store ovens, refrigerators, logos and other supplies were moved from the Albert Avenue location to Wal-Mart, leaving the inside cluttered with some mixed Subway restaurant materials, Adams said.
"This was purely a business decision," he said.
Other Subways near downtown East Lansing created a somewhat saturated market, Adams said. There are locations at 1100 E. Grand River Ave., 920 Trowbridge Road and in the International Center.
Adams said he expects student traffic at Wal-Mart to increase when it unveils a more complete grocery line in 2007, but didn't comment on how much student traffic he might lose by closing the central downtown location.
Wal-Mart Manager Steve Vanells expects the new Subway location at the 2-year-old Wal-Mart to be open within the week. It will replace a snack bar that sold pretzels, cinnamon rolls and simple snacks near the store's entrance, he said.
Subway is the only fast food restaurant in the Okemos Wal-Mart, Adams said. Nationally, about 700 Subway restaurants are moving into big-box stores, he added.
Physiology and medical technology senior Melanie Dunn eats at Subway every other week, but only visited the Albert Avenue location three times. She goes to the Grand River Avenue location instead because it has more parking.
She walked by the store on Thursday afternoon, and after seeing the closed sign, said "the problem was that you couldn't really notice it."
Tony Lagalo, owner of Tony's Restaurant, 350 Albert Ave., said he'd like to see something different go into the space left by Subway.
A majority of his customers walk to the restaurant, so any business that brings more foot traffic would benefit his business.
"Something different than the usual pizza place, even a retailer wouldn't be bad," Lagalo said.
Bobby Chaudhary, manager of India Palace Restaurant, 340 Albert Ave., said lack of adequate parking for the restaurant probably led to Subway's demise. He stressed that businesses, especially restaurants, have a hard time surviving without free parking.
Lansing-based Christman Development, which handles the property real estate, did not immediately return calls on Thursday inquiring about future plans or businesses slated for the location.
