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April 29, 2005 > News > Subway to leave convenience store after six years in Student Center

Subway to leave convenience store after six years in Student Center

By Risa Gordon | Thresher Editorial Staff

This summer, premade meal options will replace the Subway franchise in the Student Center. Smoothie King will move into Subway’s space and will manage the new food choices.

The space currently occupied by Smoothie King may be used as a soup or salad bar for Sammy’s, which would be open for the same hours as Sammy’s, Residential Dining Manager Angela Riggs said.

The Rice Subway franchise, which opened in 1999, will remain open until at least May 14, Housing and Dining Director Mark Ditman said.

The store will close for part of the summer, and food options during the closure may include box lunches, Riggs said. H&D plans to have the new food service open by Orientation Week, Ditman said.

Proposed food items include hot and made-to-order panini sandwiches, sushi, salads and premade Subway sandwiches, Riggs said.

The size of the store will not change, and drink and candy choices will be reduced to create additional room.

‘If you have too much, it’s kind of hard to find what you’re looking for,’ Riggs said. ‘So we’re going to try to get what [students] really want and what’s needed in that convenience store.’

The ATM will be relocated elsewhere in the Student Center to open up more space, Student Center Director Boyd Beckwith said.

Riggs said the convenience store may include items such as laundry detergent and fabric softener so students do not have to leave campus to buy such products.

‘I would like to make it where [students] don’t have to go out to Target,’ Riggs said. ‘I see a lot of people at Target getting some of the things we don’t carry [on campus].’

Riggs said H&D began to think about changes in December. She said H&D had received complaints about long lines at Subway.

In the redesigned store, waiting time should be reduced with the addition of premade meal options and separate lines for premade items and made-to-order food.

By allowing students purchasing convenience store items to go directly to a cashier rather than stand in the same line as people ordering food, the lines should diminish, Riggs said. Beckwith said he had also received complaints about Subway.

‘I don’t know if Subway just thought they had it in the bag, that they didn’t need to continue to provide good service to the Rice community or not, but certainly it seemed like there was a notable shift this past year in the quality of customer service,’ Beckwith said. Brown College senior Yvonne Umeh said she is happy to see Subway replaced by a store offering more choices to students.

‘That’s a pretty nice change because I know I’ve definitely had my fill of Subway, and I’m sick of it personally,’ she said. ‘I think [the new store] will offer better options for people.’

Sid Richardson College freshman Lauren Laustsen said she thinks the new food options will attract more students to the Student Center.

‘I think it’s always good to have a variety of foods that people like to eat, [especially] something people would go off campus for,’ she said.

Baker College freshman Mara Courtney said she does not like Subway or Smoothie King and is not impressed by the changes.

‘Smoothie King is overrated,’ Courtney said. ‘I think premade sandwiches are going to be pretty gross, like airplane food.’

H&D will determine the store’s initial menu, but will consider student feedback about potential changes, Riggs said.

Ditman said construction will not begin until required city permits are obtained, and while the project does not currently have a budget, it will cost less than $100,000.

End of article

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