Subway Has Closed Over 1,600 Locations Since 2022 in the United States
Subway has closed as many as 1,600 locations since 2022 in the U.S. alone.
Subway was once one of the most popular restaurant chains in the United States and across the globe. In recent years, however, the company has closed thousands of locations, with as many as 1,600 locations closing since 2022 in the U.S. alone. Let’s look at what’s going on and what that means for the brand’s future.
Subway Closed Over 1,600 Locations Since 2022
According to USA Today, which examined franchise disclosure records for its report, the number of Subway shops in the U.S. fell below 20,000 last year, with the brand closing 631 outlets in 2024 alone.
According to the records, the corporation operated 21,147 franchised outlets nationwide at the start of 2022. By the end of 2023, that figure had fallen to 20,133. Additionally, there were only 19,502 outlets by the end of 2024, which indicates a net loss of 1,645 restaurants throughout that time.
All but two states lost at least one restaurant, with the highest number of closures in California and Florida. Specifically, 226 Subway locations in California have closed, while Florida shut down 125 locations.
A spokesperson for the brand sent an email statement to USA Today, emphasizing that the store closures were part of an effort to optimize the company’s footprint “using a strategic, data-driven approach to ensure restaurants are in the right location, image and format and operated by the right franchisees.”
“This includes opening new restaurants as well as relocating or closing locations as needed, to ensure a consistent, high-quality and convenient guest experience,” the company’s statement concluded.
Subway claims to have achieved “positive global net restaurant growth” for the second year in a row and currently has about 37,000 locations worldwide, even though the number of its domestic stores may be declining.
In October 2024, the sandwich chain revealed that it had inked over 20 master franchise agreements, which resulted in over 10,000 commitments for future restaurants. According to the company, seven of the 20 deals were inked in 2024, bringing it into Paraguay and Mongolia and “significantly expanding” its presence in several other countries, including France, Belgium, Brazil, and Switzerland.
600 Stores Closed in 2024 Alone
Over 600 Subway locations closed in 2024 alone in the U.S., bringing the brand’s net total of closed stores to 7,600 in under a decade.
A recent QSR analysis found that 631 locations shuttered in 2024. At the end of the year, the sandwich company had 19,502 domestic locations, its lowest number in almost two decades. In 2015, it reached a peak of almost 27,000 stores.
The declines have persisted since 2016. Subway has lost about 7,600 stores, including over 1,000 in 2020, 2021, and 2018.
Despite this information, Starbucks is still the biggest restaurant chain in the U.S. By the end of fiscal year 2024, it had 16,935 outlets in the U.S., making it the second largest. McDonald’s came in third with 13,559. Additionally, Subway has acquired more than 10,000 units overseas in the last three years. With almost 37,000 outlets worldwide, the sandwich giant is the third-largest restaurant chain in the world, behind McDonald’s and Starbucks.
Due to its management’s disregard for franchisees, in December 2024, there was conjecture that Subway may be “gobbled up” by a rival, Jersey Mike’s.
Blackstone Group purchased the company for $8 billion, which is slightly less than what Roark Capital spent for Subway six months prior. Despite this, Blackstone Group has only 3,000 outlets in the United States compared to Subway’s 20,000.
According to a New York Post report published in December 2024, the sandwich shop had dropped 15% during the preceding four years, from “23,799 U.S. restaurants on Jan. 1, 2020 [to] 20,133 on Jan. 1, 2024, according to public filings. “
