A storefront vacant for years in Cambridge’s Central Square opens Wednesday as a Jersey Mike’s Subs.
The space at 675 Massachusetts Ave. was last a T-Mobile store – more than eight years ago.
“The empty storefront was always just horrible to walk into. It just felt like a dead space in the street,” said Christopher Fort, a member of the Central Square Advisory Committee. David and Josh Martin, who own and operate Jersey Mike’s franchises, appeared before the committee in December. David Martin will oversee the Cambridge shop.
While Cambridge’s most prominent squares are zoned against automatic acceptance of chain businesses, Jersey Mike’s has been greeted by advisory committee members and by Michael Monestime, president of the Central Square Business Improvement District – aided by the the fast-casual sandwich shop’s reputation since launching in 1956 for baking its own bread in store and using higher-quality meats, cheeses and vegetables. (And “the juice,” the Jersey Mike’s blend of red wine vinegar and olive oil.) The chain says it has more than 4,000 locations open and in development.
“I’m super happy to have a Jersey Mike’s,” Monestime said. “We have a lot of eateries in the square, but most of them are focused on dinner. We do have places that you can get lunch – and this is a great addition to that. The price point is great for the neighborhood. This is something that folks can afford.”
The Martins have several other Jersey Mike’s locations, primarily in New Jersey; this will be their first foray into Massachusetts, said Ryan M. Gazda, lawyer for the franchisers.
Josh Martin, who attended Boston University and now has a son at the same school, said he hoped to move to the Cambridge area. David Martin has a son at Harvard, and he wound up moving to the Fresh Pond area to oversee the store.
“That was really part of our both excitement and interest in the Cambridge marketplace,” Josh Martin said. “It was a phone call from my son when he was there as a freshman a couple of years ago that ‘Everything is very expensive at Harvard Square as a student, and there isn’t a great place to get a sub. And I wonder if we can do something up here.’”
“And I said, ‘Oh, that’s interesting,’” Josh Martin said.
The storefront was designed to fit into Central Square visually by avoiding the most garish fast-food colors, Gazda said, while filling in a 1,200-square-foot retail gap “that’s been kind of languishing for quite some time.”
Jersey Mike’s won’t be the first fast food chain to be at home around that spot in Central Square – a Wimpy’s was on the corner for years selling hamburgers, advisory committee member Robert Winters said.
The restaurant’s hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week.
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