The Chain Invasions

"How are the kids today?" asks the owner of Takoma Park's newest restaurant as he starts to prepare 'the usual' before their eyes. He doesn't need to ask what they want as they always get the same thing. The atmosphere of the newest addition to the old town Takoma Park eating scene is nothing out of the ordinary for this unique little hippie town except for one thing – it's a franchise, a Subway to be exact.

Takoma Park's Subway is located on the corner of Tulip and Carroll, right next to the auto shop and replaced an old market that seemed to be deserted more than it was open.

The effort to build the Subway was started more than a year ago by its current owner, Rizwan Khan. According to Khan, the initiative started with a 6 month battle between himself and the Montgomery County city council. He says that the final deciding factor in the dispute was an article printed by the Washington Post which included a poll showing that about 70-80% of people supported the Subway being put in Takoma Park. As soon as Khan finally got permission, he says it took just six months to build the new restaurant.

Within two weeks of its opening in early January, it had served 100 customers.
The flow of customers has yet to stop, proving the Post poll to be correct. "Since I opened the store, people have been saying that it is about time for a Subway" Khan says.

Ben Hatten, who works at a Takoma Park video rental store, Video Americain, says that he is glad that Subway has taken up shop because "you can get more mainstream foods" and it is a much better option for food on his salary. "It's so good, I'm so excited. All the food around here is pretty tasty but something really good and really cheap is always a good thing," Hatten says. "The place is a franchise and the guy who owns it is really nice and really cool."

Even the employees of competing restaurants in Takoma Park's old town are not unhappy with their new competition. The staff at Everyday Gourmet, Middle East Market and Mark's Kitchen say that they do not think the Subway will take any of their business. "It's not affecting business. I think it's a good thing. I love Subway" says Trang Nguyen, who works at Everyday Gourmet.

However, not all of the Old Town workers agree. "[The Subway] hasn't affected business yet but I wouldn't be surprised if started taking business sometime [soon]," says Savory employee Elizabeth Pemdley. "There are so few restaurants in this are so it inevitable that people will get bored." According to Pemdley, Savory was never given a chance to protest. "It sort of crept in. We weren't happy about it, but there was never a point to argue about it," Pemdley says.

The more expensive cost of Savory may be its downfall when trying to compete with Subway. Sophomore Emma Hutchinson says, "the market that was there before failed. Whatever is going to be successful should be there. It's a lot less expensive than Savory."

The majority of Blair students who live in Takoma Park are also against the Subway. "I love Subway but I don't want a chain restaurant in old town. CVS was bad enough and it's technically in DC," says Junior Max Czapanskiy. A domino effect seems to be the biggest fear for the Takoma Park community. "It seems like pretty soon, we're going to have a Wal-Mart. It was bad enough with the CVS," says Junior Walker Davis.

Sophomore Louis Weil also thinks that Takoma Park is better off without a chain restaurant. "I like Subway but old town was fine the way it was without the franchises. I probably won't eat there." Sophomore Camille MacKler says that she thinks "its weird having something so commercial in such a unique little town like Old town."