New Mexico Central

Edgewood Loses Fast-Food Franchise

by John Weckerle

After receiving a tip from a local business owner, a team of New Mexico Central investigators made a beeline to a location in Edgewood to confirm the demise of another local establishment – the Subway^® sandwich shop on George Court.  There, indeed, a sign in the door advised us that this location had closed, and asking us to visit their Moriarty or Tijeras locations.  Confounded – primarily because the shop seemed chronically busy – we initiated contact with Subway^® to inquire as to why we had been deprived of the six-inch tuna sandwich on 9-grain wheat with everything on it that we enjoyed so well, and whether or not a new Edgewood location was planned.  On May 7, we received the following reply from Subway:

Thank you for contacting SUBWAY® Restaurants. Your feedback is important
to the SUBWAY® brand and your recent inquiry has been forwarded to the
appropriate areas for further review.

Sincerely,
The Customer Care Team
SUBWAY® Restaurants
325 Bic Drive
Milford, CT 06461 USA
http://www.subway.com
Ph:1.800.888.4848
Note: This e-mail message is automatically generated as part of our automated e-mail system. Please do not reply to this e-mail address as this mailbox account is not monitored.

More than a week later, we have heard nothing else from Subway^®.

We have, perhaps unsurprisingly, a few thoughts.  First, let us recognize that a Subway^® sandwich, in addition to whatever enjoyment it may provide, is a convenience, and likely primarily a convenience, to most purchasers.  Adding what amounts to a 30-minute minimum round trip to the procurement has the potential to turn the grinder adventure into a grind – and if there is a long line at the alternate location, the entire hero-ic enterprise could become a hoagie horror.

Second, we wish to make it clear that we did not hear from “The Customer Care Team.”  We received an autoresponse from an autoresponse application.  If there were actually a “team” at Subway^(argh) that cared about customers in Edgewood, we should have heard from them by now.  Then again, the indication that our inquiry was forwarded to the appropriate areas (Sandia Knolls? Piscataway? The Caribbean?  Narnia?) rather than the appropriate people or department suggests that Subway^(argh) is perhaps less concerned with the care of its customers than the customers themselves might be.

As some may have noticed, the denizens of NM-Central tend not to engage in a range of colloquialisms, seeking alternatives to even those that are only mildly vulgar and/or part of the commonly accepted parlance, acknowledging that some of our readers would prefer headier discussions.  Therefore, we will refrain from such machinations as inviting Subway^(argh) to “bite me” or “eat it,” in the mode of accepted vernacular.  However, we will note that we will likely be biting and eating less of Subway’s^(argh) products in the foreseeable future, both here and elsewhere because – for Edgewood area residents, at least – they are no longer convenient, and to date we’ve seen no indication that the corporation is the least bit concerned with the interests in its once-upon-a-time customers in Edgewood. It’s not as if Edgewood area lunch patrons don’t have options – if you have an extra half-hour, there are good, non-sandwich lunch options locally, and if you’re really wanting a great sandwich and have time on your hands, there’s always Albuquerque.

Of course we can always make our own sandwiches.  After all, it’s not as if it’s submarine science…

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