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Changes to eatery are 'sub-tle'
Regan Hill photo
Andrea Faw is the new owner of the Sub Express on West Broad Street.
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Published: June 10, 2009
Andrea Faw quickly adapted to the change of pace in Statesville. The Sub Express on West Broad Street brings in about six times more foot traffic than her old store, Sub Express II in Taylorsville.
"If I had not opened that location, I would have been completely overwhelmed," Faw said on Tuesday. "It's worth it. I hope I can maintain it."
Faw purchased the downtown eatery from retiring owner Larry Johnson.
Years of standing on concrete were hard on his knees, said Johnson, who purchased the business in 1990.
The hungry lunch crowd craving a portion of the 1,000 pounds of pasta salad made in the restaurant every week has kept Faw on her toes.
"Taylorsville was a different character," Faw said.
She didn't want people to notice a drastic change when the business officially changed hands in August 2008. The menu is still the same, she said. The biggest change was a fresh coat of paint on the interior walls.
Jan Mitchell, who has worked at Sub Express for nearly 15 years, said many of the customers weren't aware of the new ownership.
"She knew what she was doing," Mitchell said. "She doesn't ask us to do anything she doesn't do herself."
Johnson said Faw actually started running the business about seven months before he retired.
"She has not missed a lick," he said. "She's done really well."
Faw has witnessed the restaurant's growth firsthand. She started working at the downtown location in 1985 when the restaurant was owned by Frances and Marion Fairey.
In 1989 she went back to school for her bachelor's degree in accounting.
While Faw was working for an accountant in Taylorsville, she started talking about the possibility of opening a Sub Express in Taylorsville with Johnson, who suggested she try it herself.
"This is what I've always loved," Faw said. "This is just what I do better."
Johnson said he told Faw and her husband, Ronald, he would give them an option to purchase the Statesville location when he retired.
The couple took Johnson up on his offer and closed the Taylorsville location.
The good news, Faw said, was a lot of the regular customers from Taylorsville have found their way into the Statesville location.
Faw would eventually like to open another Sub Express in Troutman or Mooresville.
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