The wave of redevelopment in downtown Toledo has claimed a casualty.
Potbelly Sandwich Shop, a franchise store that opened in March, 2017, at 413 Madison Ave. next to the PNC Bank Building, closed permanently on Monday.
Also closing on Monday was the area’s other Potbelly restaurant, located on Talmadge Road next to Franklin Park Mall. Both locations were owned by franchisee Jeff Gibbs.
Mr. Gibbs said the rebirth of downtown had attracted too many new eateries for all to succeed — even with the move downtown by ProMedica, which brought 2,100 workers with it when it relocated its headquarters.
“With the number of restaurants that have opened up downtown in the last year and a half, it cut the pie into too many pieces and we could not make it,” he said.
Mr. Gibbs said he still has a lease for the space downtown and his Franklin Park restaurant would not have been able to support both locations.
Opening a Potbelly downtown seemed like the ideal move in 2015 when Mr. Gibbs decided to open a second store and ProMedica announced it would be relocating its headquarters and 2,100 employees to the former Edison Steam Plant on Summit Street.
“It just feels like the momentum downtown is really swelling up and with the various companies moving downtown, like ProMedica and the other things going on, residents moving downtown, that things are moving in that direction,” Mr. Gibbs said at the time.
And for the first year of operation, business was good, Mr. Gibbs said on Monday while describing what happened.
But then the few blocks where he was located saw the arrival of Barry Bagels sandwich shop, Balance Pan-Asian Grille, City Egg, and Starbucks.
“We tried staying open on evenings and Saturdays. There was just nothing [businesswise] on those days,” Mr. Gibbs said. “It was hard to make it with just 2 hours of business a day,” he added.
And the anticipated boost from ProMedica? “We did get business from them but it was not much,” Mr. Gibbs said.
On Thursdays in the spring and summer when food trucks showed up on St. Clair Street during the lunch hour, Potbelly’s business declined 50 percent, Mr. Gibbs said.
“I’m proud of the effort that we put into it and we gave it a really good try. So I feel good that we gave it our all,” he said. “And while we ended up closing, I can say we gave it our best shot,” he added.
Pete Shawaker, a commercial Realtor and retail specialist at the Reichle Klein Group, said opening a restaurant downtown “is one of those tricky things” that involves several factors.
“The residential component continues to grow. You can support more functions, like restaurants, as more office workers continue to come downtown,” he said.
Obviously, there’s been a huge boost with ProMedica, Mr. Shawaker said.
“But at this point, the question is how many more hundreds of people do you need to support the next restaurant without robbing Peter to pay Paul?” he said.
“If something opens, it’s going to be taking away something from somebody else.”
First Published April 22, 2019, 9:53 p.m.
