Quiznos labelscar: a suburban relic, or an omen of a global future?

As unpredictable weather and utilities challenges impede my ability to crank out articles quickly, I offer what might initially seem like a “throwaway”.  It’s a reference to one of my favorite topics: not just a labelscar, but one in particular for an eatery I’ve featured way more often than its current national prevalence (or lack thereof) deserves.  Can you spot it in the photo above?  I’m referring to the black, ceiling-mounted rectangle in the foreground; nothing to do with “KNN Nails”.   It’s not easy to see and it took me some time, but the dark space left over after the removal of the decals (the “labelscar”) indicate the tenant from many years in the past: none other than Quizno’s Subs.  Or Quiznos (no apostrophe), as I normally reference it.  It’s a Quiznos labelscar.

Or, in recent years—after filing for bankruptcy protection in 2014) and under ownership of High Bluff Capital Partners—the official name apparently is Quiz Holdings LLC.  Catchy.  But is it toasty?

Yes, Quiznos has remained one of the most heavily featured businesses on this blog, right up there with Sears, Burlington (formerly Burlington Coat Factory), and LA Fitness.  Though the last two on this list aren’t doing so badly, I don’t tend to linger on businesses that are flourishing.  But few escalated so rapidly and then plunged back into relative obscurity quite like the Colorado-based sub sandwich chain.  Buoyed in part by edgy commercials and its distinguished toasted bread (a practice its competitors quickly emulated), Quiznos clawed its way to become the second-largest chain of its kind in the late 2000s, with nearly 5,000 locations, behind only Subway.  But it never adapted to market any of its options as healthy—in contrast with Subway or most of the other sandwich chains.  More importantly, Quiznos notoriously marketed itself as the next big thing to entrepreneurs, but then offered little support when high supply costs made it unusually difficult for franchisees to make a profit.  Class action lawsuits, a widely publicized suicide by the owner of two locations, the Great Recession, and the over 40% failure rate eventually caught up to the chain, and it filed for bankruptcy in 2014.  In just a few years, it closed over 90% of its locations.  The Quiznos labelscar became almost meme-worthy, and, if not for the unusual name, other emergent chains (Jimmy John’s, Jersey Mike’s, Firehouse, Potbelly Sandwich Works) would have buried Quiznos.

The Quiznos labelscar in the above photo rests in one of the many strip malls that define Springfield, Virginia—a boundary-less, largely featureless Washington DC suburban area that consists of the junction of Interstate 395, 495, and 95.  Needless to say, Springfield has got lots of retail, including a mall that has held together fairly well over the years.  When I moved to this region in spring 2017, Quiznos locations were a rarity but not impossible to find.  At this point, based on the research, the only functioning Quiznos in this metro of over 6 million people operates at a strip mall in Oxon Hill, Maryland, several miles away from Springfield.  Springfield Town Center (the mall itself) claimed a Quiznos in the past—not any more.

But what about the Quiznos labelscar in question? Why is it interesting or important?  Based on archived photos through Google Streetview, this strip mall on Brandon Avenue in the heart of Springfield last hosted a Quiznos back in the summer of 2017.  Attempts for the venture capital-owned business (Quiz Holdings LLC) to restructure a comeback haven’t proven fruitful, at least here in the east coast.  The company still features about 300 locations, but only 150 in the United States, at least as of spring 2024.  International operations include successful runs in a few Latin American countries (Mexico, Central America, Brazil), southeast Asia (China, India), Philippines, and the Middle East.  Outside of Canada, the trajectory in Anglophone countries (UK, Ireland, Australia) has largely paralleled that of the US; they are a rarity now.

But the international influence is worthy of recognition, because it reflects the path of many other American chains, regardless of whether they face flagging success domestically.  Blimpie’s subs, which briefly offered stiff competition to Subway in the 1990s, is largely residual in the US, down to about 100 locations from an early 2000s peak of 2,000.   At this point in time, it is unclear that Blimpie International, Inc. has much reason to justify the second word in its official name, but in the late 1990s, the brand was diversifying even as its bottom line was receding: it had opened locations in 15 other countries.  While some business analysts might prognosticate that this is Icarus flying too close to the sun, a model that fails in one country can succeed in another.  Becoming more international can reflect both growing ambition and a desperate effort to shore up a flagging model.  Blimpie today is vestigial domestically and virtually non-existent in foreign markets.

Conversely, the 1990s chain Kenny Rogers Roasters took the international path when sales began to flag within just a few years, after a hyper-rapid growth.  Originating in Florida, the rotisserie chicken chain enjoyed rapid but fleeting domestic success, prompting an expansion into southeast Asia.  After a Chapter 11 filing in 1998 and wobbly performance domestically, a Malaysian franchisee purchased all IP pertaining to the brand and consolidated remaining efforts in the Pacific Rim.  Kenny Rogers Roasters boasts over 150 locations, primarily in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, with recent expansion into Thailand and UAE.  The last American location closed over a decade ago.

It’s impossible to tell from the Quiznos labelscar if it’ll go the Blimpie or Kenny Rogers Roasters route; from an American perspective, neither path is that desirable.  Quiznos may have a better luck of it.  Though it seems that the home office continues to reduce its locations east of the Appalachians, the toasty chain still has mild visibility in a few cities out west: metro Denver (where it began), greater Houston, Seattle, the San Francisco Bay Area.  Beyond these efforts to shore up the Quiznos brand where recognition was already strong long before it went national, the next best effort for Quiz Holdings LLC may be countries where it faces less competition from other American sandwich chains: namely, southeast Asia and Middle East, where its performance appears to remain solid.  (After all, penetrating an underrepresented market can be once-mighty chain’s secret to survival, evidenced by Kenny Rogers Roasters.  As my readership has noted here in the past, Kmart is basically extinct in the US but continues to operate successfully in Virgin Islands and Guam, where the captive clientele has fewer alternatives.)

But this international horse trading effectively forces me to ponder on the Quiznos labelscar one more time.  In 2017, the store next to this Quiznos hosted a Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream parlor.  It managed to survive a few years after the Quiznos closure.  But both are gone now.  And as a replacement?

Gilgamesh, an Iraqi bakery, which leased the Quiznos site (and possibly spilled into the Baskin-Robbins site after it closed), though Gilgamesh itself folded at some point in 2024.  But a seemingly niche offering like Gilgamesh better reflects the current customer base in Springfield, Virginia than Quiznos or Baskin-Robbins. At this point in time, this nondescript strip mall on Brandon Avenue hosts only two nationally known brands: a UPS Store and Anytime Fitness.  Among the other businesses as I write this article: a Vietnamese restaurant, an Ethiopian restaurant, a Chinese restaurant, dog grooming, a fantasy games collectible store, a dog training studio, a martial arts studio, a bathroom tile contractor, a nail salon, a smoke shop, and a beauty supply company.  All mom-and-pops, and resulting in a strip mall that is about 90% occupied. And catty-corner is an international grocery store.

Like the middle-class suburban areas in many large metros, Springfield is increasingly a multi-national community, home to a sizable Middle Eastern, Korean, and Vietnamese diaspora, which complement the more longstanding Ethiopian and Salvadoran populations.  Consequently, demand for leasable space with small floor plates is likely to go quickly among foreign-born entrepreneurs—exactly the sort of spaces where all-American sub sandwich and ice cream chains used to predominate.  They don’t need as much space as medium sized retailers like Petsmart or Barnes and Noble or Aldi; certainly nothing like a Walmart or Target big box.  The replacement of national chains with mom-and-pops is usually evidence of diminished lucre to the retail site—that is, the management can no longer demand the high leasing rates for mega brands, because the national chains just aren’t biting.  But, in 2025, how many national retailers, the likes of which might claim a location like this run-of-the-mill strip mall, are really pursuing rapid growth?  Far too many are facing steeper combination from multiple angles—from online shopping for the mainstream stuff, and—for the niche stuff—from immigrant-run small businesses who offer better sandwiches and sweets to both their fellow immigrants and the curious neighbors.

Gilgamesh may have closed, but what is the next tenant far more likely to be?  If I were a gambler, I’d wager it’s going to be closer to an Iraqi bakery than a sandwich shop that can afford advertising on nationally broadcast television (as Quiznos notoriously did).  Let Quiznos test its toasty torpedo in Tunisia.  Meanwhile, Tunisia can bring its Tunisian tea over here—to Springfield, at least.