ARLINGTON, Texas — Five years after celebrating its grand opening, a Subway sandwich shop saw sales double with the arrival of a record-breaking second customer, sources unaware the store still existed report.
“Before today, our only regular was the guy who works at the smoke shop next door,” said 19-year-old sandwich artist Tyler Lamb, the store’s assistant manager and sole employee on duty. “Having a second customer on our anniversary of all days is wild. I just hope he doesn’t sit down at one of the tables because I haven’t wiped them down since the day I thought the health department was coming.”
The customer in question, community college student Sarah Hartwick, was surprised to learn her visit single-handledly doubled the store’s sales.
“Wait, I’m the second customer? Somebody actually bought and ate a sandwich here once before today?” Hartwick said between bites of a tuna footlong. “I know this place popped up like five years ago, but that number seems high considering there’s a perfectly good Jersey Mike’s across the street. And speaking of high, the kid behind the counter stared at me for five full minutes before even asking me what I wanted. I really just wanted the bathroom code but after the third minute of him staring at me, the mystery tuna looked kind of appetizing. Honestly a pretty decent sandwich all things considered.”
Subway regional manager Tom Howard says situations like these aren’t unusual because many Subway stores only need a single customer to remain profitable.
“Thanks to all the money Jared spent on sandwiches here before he went to prison, we can afford to keep stores running and even open new ones as long as each location has one loyal customer to keep it afloat,” said Howard. “That actually makes us more profitable than other sandwich chains. Jersey Mike’s sold out to private equity, and Jimmy John’s has their guy hunting elephants because they can’t afford regular sandwich meat, but Subway persists. It doesn’t matter that customers don’t plan on visiting Subway. All it takes is one person to end up in one of our stores and discover our tuna is actually pretty good. And if a second customer shows up and makes the same beautiful discovery? That guarantees the store will be a staple of its community for decades to come.”
At press time, fire marshals shut down the Subway for exceeding capacity after a third customer entered the store.
