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NEWS

The Norwich Guidon
October 30, 2003

Northfield Subway celebrates first anniversary

By Marc Allerdt
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

Subway, in the center of Northfield, celebrated its first anniversary this month.. (Bishop photo)

On Oct. 19, Northfield's downtown Subway celebrated its first anniversary.

"It's had its moments, ups and downs, but it has exceeded our expectations," said store owners Lisa and Bruce Youngbluth.

Subway has been a celebrated addition to Northfield, a status sometimes difficult to achieve in small towns. According to Lisa, town residents are generally against large commercial restaurants, citing the initial hesitancy over Dunkin Donuts' opening. "But after awhile, everyone loved it,."

By positioning the Subway in the heart of downtown, the Youngbluths hoped to bring additional activity to the common.

"I couldn't think of a better location, because you want to keep it in town," Bruce said. "That's as good as you can get."

As a tribute to loyal patrons for the one-year anniversary, the Youngbluths held a sandwich contest, which involved having community members create a new sandwich and naming it after themselves. Customers could then buy the sandwich for a limited period of time.

While Subway has been a huge hit with Norwich students, the college actually does not supply the majority of business for the shop.

"On any given day, Norwich is only about 25 percent of the business," Lisa said. The locals have been the big supporters.

When Norwich hosts big hockey or football games, however, business jumps to about 50 percent Norwich customers.

Subway actually gears up for freshmen corps members on Sundays by baking extra bread for them. "We try to fulfill their needs," Lisa said.

"It was great. I could just walk down there and get whatever I needed," said Christopher Quilan, 19, a sophomore corps member and history major.

"When my old roommate was here, we would go every Sunday. It was kind of special," said Dana Lafarior, 19, a sophomore criminal justice major from New Hampshire.

The Youngbluths want to keep the store open late so Northfield center doesn't look like a ghost town by 6 p.m.

"We have plans to eventually do some more with the location, to maybe get some outdoor seating, expand the sidewalks, put new cobblestone or pressed concrete sidewalks in, and we want to spruce up the building," Bruce explained.

The Youngbluths are hoping to bring Subway to other parts of Vermont, as well, but things are still in the planning stages.

"We looked at a couple other places to put Subways, and we got a few other ideas that we wanted to maybe do in Northfield. We don't know for sure," said Bruce.

The Norwich Guidon is a twice-monthly student newspaper distributed at Norwich University. It provides laboratory experience for students in the Communications program. Claims asserted by letter writers, editorials and other articles do not represent the positions of Norwich University. The Norwich Guidon welcomes signed letters to the editor. They should be no longer than 300 words. Unsigned letters will not be printed, but names may be withheld upon worthy request. All letters are subject to editing for length and good taste. Mailing address: The Norwich Guidon, Communications Center, Norwich University, Northfield, VT 056632. www.norwich.edu/guidon. If you have any questions or comments about the paper, please contact Professor Ken Bush at kbush@norwich.edu.