STREETERVILLE — People seeking a fast sandwich off Michigan Avenue will soon have plenty of options on Ohio Street.
Subway, the world's biggest restaurant chain, is preparing to open a new store in the 200 block of East Ohio. Once open, the ubiquitous restaurant will be slicing bread next to two other assembly line sandwich shops in the same building: Jimmy John's and Jersey Mike's.
Dave Matthews says the owners all feel their spot is different:
Three's company. [DNAinfo/David Matthews]
David Wood, a managing partner of the Jersey Mike's at 203 E. Ohio St., said his store opened in 2012. He's never seen three restaurants so similar open in such close proximity.
"Outside of a mall food court, no," he said.
Wood figures the shops all chose the building because of its location near the Magnificent Mile and the hospitals and high-rises in the neighborhood. He's not too worried about competition, though.
Jersey Mike's "is a sub above. That's what we say," Wood said.
Melanie Becvar, a manager of the Jimmy John's store next door, agrees that the shops are different enough to offer passers-by variety. She believes her store opened about five years ago, which would make it the first of the current sandwich shops to open in the building.
"It's the city," Becvar said. "They're all sandwich places, but they're different markets. We're cold sandwiches."
An opening date and the proprietor of the forthcoming Subway shop could not determined. Cook County property records show the building at 203-215 E. Ohio is owned by a venture led by an Oak Brook investor who could not be reached for comment.
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