RIP, The Sandwich Shop

Today was supposed to be the final day of business at a sandwich shop (imaginatively named The Sandwich Shop) near my office, but I noticed on my way home last night¹Is 5 p.m. considered night? I guess it depends on when the sun sets. that apparently they decided to shut it all down on Thursday instead.

Their decision to close for good a day early isn’t all that surprising; in fact, it’s consistent with the way they’ve operated for a past couple of years. When I first started going there, they were open until 4 p.m. every weekday,²As well as on Saturdays, but that got phased out when they reopened after the pandemic. but their closing time kept getting adjusted earlier and earlier. I think at the end their posted closing time was 1:45, but there was almost always a handwritten note on the door³Or two or three. The owner seemed to REALLY enjoy putting up handwritten signs. saying that they were going to be closing 30-60 minutes earlier than that.

I don’t know everything that was going on behind the scenes, of course, but I don’t think a lack of foot traffic was the reason it went under. Every time I went in there—and I did so quite frequently—there were people in line waiting to order. A couple of coffee shops had opened up nearby recently, but the sandwich place seemed to still get a lot of business.

In fact, sometimes they seemed like they were too busy. There were just two of them behind the counter—the owner and another employee—and they were always going nonstop. It wasn’t uncommon for the owner to disable online ordering because they couldn’t handle the volume of orders coming in.

I guess Jon Taffer would say that they just didn’t have the right systems in place and they refused to embrace solutions.⁴I’ve been watching a lot of Bar Rescue recently. Probably too much. If only there was a sandwich shop rescue reality show, they could have busted open the books and made a call for help. Alas, no such exploitative lifeline exists.

It’s really a shame that things didn’t work out. Both the owner and her other employee were very nice people and they always greeted me by name when I came through the door. I had planned on stopping by today to say thanks and good luck, but I guess that won’t be happening now. I hope they both land on their feet and find success in whatever lies ahead.

It’s also a bummer for me personally because they were by far the closest and most decently priced lunch option near my office. I could easily get two meals out of a single sandwich and everything they made was fantastic. My stomach and my pocketbook will miss them bigly.

Yesterday at the ballpark

The Brewers and Giants wrapped up their four-game series with an afternoon tilt and the sunlight was much appreciated by everyone.⁵Particularly me. Because of the weather, midweek day games in April are always much better attended than night games here, but the average age in the stands shoots up to about 112 because it’s mostly retirees who have nothing better to do on a Thursday afternoon.⁶And people like me who decide that getting their baseball fix is a worthwhile expenditure of their PTO. Yesterday was no exception. I felt like I was an extra in Cocoon 3: We All Go To The Ballpark.

Starter Landen Roupp didn’t turn in the greatest of performances, but home runs by Mike “Mike Wazowski” Yastrzemski and Matt “Regrettable Mustache” Chapman kept the Giants in the game. Then they capitalized on yet another Brewers fielding blunder in the bottom of the eighth to score what would turn out to be the game-winning run.

I don’t know what’s in the water in Milwaukee, but apparently it makes you play terrible defense. They’re a team with a lot of speed and good contact hitters, but they’re not going to get very far if they can’t figure out how to make routine catches.⁷To be fair, the Giants also had their fair share of defensive miscues during the series. Maybe they just need bigger gloves or stickum spray. Or an intervention or an exorcism or something.

Baseball and the casual dining industry. Both harder than they look.

• 1
  Is 5 p.m. considered night? I guess it depends on when the sun sets.
• 2
  As well as on Saturdays, but that got phased out when they reopened after the pandemic.
• 3
  Or two or three. The owner seemed to REALLY enjoy putting up handwritten signs.
• 4
  I’ve been watching a lot of Bar Rescue recently. Probably too much.
• 5
  Particularly me.
• 6
  And people like me who decide that getting their baseball fix is a worthwhile expenditure of their PTO.
• 7
  To be fair, the Giants also had their fair share of defensive miscues during the series.