This is the first installment of a new monthly feature called Dispatches from Riverside County. In this monthly feature, The Riverside Record will highlight a local business in the county that could use a little extra support. If you know a business that would benefit from being featured by The Record, email publisher Alicia Ramirez at Alicia.Ramirez@RiversideRecord.org.
The Sub Station at UC Riverside has been a neighborhood staple since Feb. 16, 1972, when Richard Munio and a friend decided to open up an East Coast sub shop after Munio returned from a year of military service in Vietnam.
“I worked up in Tahoe [with my old college roommate] for a couple of months, and then he said, ‘Let’s open up a sandwich shop, and maybe we’ll never grow old,” the 78-year-old said.
But business took a hit with a pandemic and hasn’t fully recovered, which is why Munio put out an email last month asking people to come out and support the local sandwich shop.
“Covid has put everybody back home,” he said. “The professors are not in class five days a week. A third of the kids are still taking online classes. We’ve lost all of our business clients.”
On top of the pandemic, Munio said the tastes of a younger generation have changed, there are a number of other options nearby, and a lot of his clientele from the last 50 years has simply moved away from the area.
“So this is a bit of an uphill battle,” he said.
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And when you couple the decreased foot traffic with increased prices, Munio said it’s been really difficult to keep the business afloat.
“We haven’t raised our prices in two years, and you don’t think I’ve taken a lot of hits, but when you don’t have any numbers, how can you raise the prices,” he said. “We used to do 200 to 300 sandwiches a day, and some days we can’t even do 100 now.”
In an effort to make The Sub Station more appealing to diners, Munio offers not one, but four seating areas, including two that are outdoors — the patio in the front and a dog-friendly area in the back. There is also the main seating area and the annex that can be used for small private gatherings and parties that can be reserved with no fee.
“We can seat over 120 people in four different applications,” he said.
And Munio is hoping to have all of those seats filled from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Feb. 16 for The Sub Station’s 53rd anniversary party. There will be a DJ playing music from the ’70s and a special deal for people to buy one sandwich at the 2025 price and get a second sandwich at the 1972 price. And, Munio said, some of his former employees said they plan to drop by as well.
“The Sub Station’s about people,” he said. “We really care about people — on both sides of the counter.”
The Sub Station is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is located at 3663 Canyon Crest Drive in Riverside, just behind the UC Riverside campus in Bannockburn Village.
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