By Josh Siatkowski | Staff Writer
The Subway across the street from Penland Residence Hall closed, adding to the list of restaurant closures and turnover on Baylor’s side of I-35.
Shobi Ahmed, the manager of the Exxon station where the Subway was housed, said the restaurant closed Feb. 1 after the lease was not renewed. The reason for Subway’s closure, he said, was slowing business caused by changing landscapes around campus dining. While the company Ahmed works for has managed the property for only about a year, Ahmed said he was told the Subway was busier in the past when students could use their IDs to pay for food.
“Baylor students used to bring their [ID] cards [to pay for food],” Ahmed said.
When the program ended, Ahmed said it “really hurt Subway.”
The program, called Bear Bucks, has not existed since 2013, but it allowed students to use older dining dollars to eat at restaurants around campus.
“There were some locations around town where students could use their ID,” said Jennifer Crawford, vice president of operations for Baylor Eats.
Crawford also said that Bear Bucks functioned more like “school dollars that weren’t necessarily dining dollars,” meaning students could eat off-campus at places not owned by the university.
Crawford said logistical challenges ended the program long ago, and that “the program ended long before Chartwells was on campus” in 2024.
Students have advocated for the return of off-campus dining money in past years, but no plans have been made to bring the program back.
In addition to the removal of Bear Bucks, Ahmed said that improved on-campus dining options probably slowed business as well.
“They have more variety inside,” Ahmed said. “That hurts a lot.”
While Ahmed said that crowds had been diminishing over the years, marketing professor Dr. James Roberts said the business was consistent throughout his years frequenting the restaurant, but it was dominated by a few regular customers.
“The crowd hasn’t [changed] much over the years,” Roberts said. “There were the ‘regulars’ that I saw each time I would eat there. I was one of the regulars eating there about twice per week.”
Ahmed said that despite the Subway’s closure, the Exxon gas station and Tiger-Mart convenience store have no plans to close.
In 2019, an IHOP closed on the same land on which the Hurd Welcome Center sits. More recently, The Mix Cafe near Baylor’s business school was replaced with a Mexican restaurant. But according to Ahmed, the space will be replaced with another sandwich restaurant.
“Within two to three months, something will come,” Ahmed said. “They kept everything in place as it is.”
