“McMullen: Quiznos gone again, but other franchises should give us a try” |
| McMullen: Quiznos gone again, but other franchises should give us a try Posted: 03 Dec 2010 07:32 AM PST The revival of the Sedalia Quiznos location was practically inevitable. It sat for a while — a sub shop locked up and frozen in time but it didn't need a whole lot to be a functional location once again. Then it happened — Sedalia had an active Quiznos again but the excitement really wasn't there like it was the first time it opened up.
And so, just about two months after Quiznos opened for the second time, it closed for the second time. Strangely enough, the months between the two openings saw the successful opening of a Jimmy John's franchise and the successful return of a Mr. Goodcents franchise. By all accounts, both seem to be doing just fine.
We have more than our fair share of sandwich shops, but it now seems clear that despite all that we just won't sufficiently patronize a Quiznos. Maybe it's the franchise itself but many seem to think that Quiznos failed because it had such a bad location and offered such little parking.
And I guess I can't really judge the quality of the location but it doesn't seem a whole lot worse than the locations of either one of the previously mentioned upstart shops that both sit either on or very close to the very same street (albeit separated by a few blocks). The parking is sparse but I suppose that a place would have to be really popular for that to start being a problem, and that clearly wasn't the case.
Maybe they mean that they were trying to set up shop in an area that just doesn't lend itself to stopping and grabbing a sandwich — but Mighty Melt sits mighty close and doesn't seem to have any trouble drawing the sandwich fans.
Maybe they mean that the location was bad because there were already so many sandwich shops in that general area. But that is really only the case now — Broadway Boulevard only recently became sandwich row and it seems as though Quiznos could have caught that particular wave early.
The exact reason is unclear but what is clear is that a Quiznos in that particular location isn't going to work. State Fair Community College has a fine sub line at the food services in the Parkhurst Commons, yet I still see people bringing in or calling out for sandwiches — I've seen people enjoying food from all of the other shops but I don't think I have seen even a single Quiznos wrapper.
It seems that the most recent shutdown was spurred on by a slow holiday customer turnout — perhaps instead of shutting down they should have instituted some sort of seasonal schedule. Keep it open when it does actually draw the people in for as long as it actually will.
Now I'm not saying that mere absence will make the hearts grow fonder, because that is clearly not the case here; but maybe we are a town that only wants Quiznos during specific periods of the year.
I would suppose, like others have supposed, that simply putting the Quiznos somewhere else would contribute to its survival. Maybe they should try the east side of town. On the other hand, I bet that any restaurant that opened up within walking distance of the new Smith-Cotton High School would do relatively well.
It is a shame that two different sets of employees had to lose their jobs to this one location and it is even more of a shame that the Quiznos headhunters poached a district manager from Kansas only to shut down the Sedalia store that they got him for.
But I think the most important thing that people should take from the double-down shutdown of the Sedalia Quiznos is this: Just because one business tried twice and failed doesn't essentially mean that any other forays into the heart of the Pettis County market are doomed to fail. Don't let the strange case of Quiznos dissuade you from moving in, especially if you want to bring in something that we don't already have. I think Sedalia could still support a Quiznos even if there are some who think it would be nearly impossible at this point.
In fact, I would like to see a second franchisee take over where corporate is leaving off and do whatever it takes to make that location into a viable Quiznos. It could be the Quiznos that just refuses to die. I suppose there's always going to be an aspiring entrepreneur out there willing to give it just one more shot — after all, the Quiznos is already there.
We might be shocked by just how many times a place can go out of business. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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