To bring up some disappointing news...
Firehouse Subs will be closing their dowtnown location on Adams Street next week. September 30th will be the last day.
I believe slow after-lunch sales are to blame.
They will most certainly be missed. :'(
It may be slow after lunch, but they have a slamming lunch that runs to close to 2pm, and they are only open to 5pm. I also have a hard time believing the Fire and pension Fund it charging that much in rent considering who they are. Disappointing is right.
That's too bad about the Firehouse subs closing.
Look at the bright side. With that nasty restaurant out of the way we could always build another parking lot!
Ocklawaha
Ockawaha, build another parking lot? Get real. Just leave it an empty dirt filled lot or a mult-million dollar park? The closest one is 3 blocks away, we could use one there. But don't allow dog? That wouldn't be Jacksonville.
Does anybody in City Hall care? It is embarassing going to nearly every other city in America and compare downtown dining options to Jacksonville.
QuoteDoes anybody in City Hall care? It is embarassing going to nearly every other city in America and compare downtown dining options to Jacksonville.
Hey Copperfriend, come on man, we have a BK up on Beaver Street, what more could we ask for? Krystal? How does that stack up to, Lulu, or Two Egg, Florida? QuoteOckawaha, build another parking lot? Get real. Just leave it an empty dirt filled lot or a mult-million dollar park? The closest one is 3 blocks away, we could use one there.
Sure Gatorback! We love parking lots here. It's the sort of thing City's do when their Transit operator is disfunctional. Hells bells man, we don't even have BUS parking yet! I'll bet for $500 Million we could build it though. Ocklawaha
Wow.. That is extremely disappointing... I thought they had extremely strong lunch sales and a very very thriving catering business. That, coupled with shortened hours, should have meant a success. How much are they being charged for rent and will the Police/Fire Pension Fund step in and try to save it? It's gonna suck to have to drive to the groady one in Riverside or the San Marco location instead of just walking out my front door and like... 5 steps down.
That's unfortunate, indeed. Just goes to show that man can't live on lunch alone. A part of me still believes Fire House would have been better off it would have had better visibility. For example, if your not familiar with downtown, its pretty easy to drive by without even realizing that Fire House was there. Hopefully in the future, Fire House subs will return to the downtown scene.
I ate there at Firehouse a couple three times. I lived more toward the Hemming Plaza so it was easier to just go to Subway--are they openned back up, or did the close, I heard they're renovating. My sister's family lives in San Marco, so we go to to Firehouse in san marco often...and the subway in San Marco is just as close to here house. I like all three, I guess the one just didn't have the foot traffic. The parking police surely didn't help I'm sure.
Maybe some innovative signage would have helped thier business. Driving down Main St you would have no idea there is a Firehouse Subs there on the corner. At least with Starbucks you can see their signs driving down Main St.
Well said Stephen.
I was downtown on saturday with plans to stop in at the Burrito Gallery for lunch. I passed it the first time because I wasn't paying attention but then had to circle a 5 block radius to get back around to it. Pretty rediculous. If I didn't have a goal to try it out I would have likely ended up driving on through and hitting the Landing.
I'll miss the downtown Firehouse. It is one of my favorites. The staff has always been great and its vicinity to the Main Library makes it a great stop for lunch after a morning of hanging out and reading books with the kids.
Quote from: chipwich on September 22, 2007, 05:25:41 PMI believe slow after-lunch sales are to blame.
How can this be the issue - they are open until 5pm only. Unless they are looking for the Del Boca Vista Early Bird Crowd, who eats dinner after 5?
I smell a rat.....
Could it be that the Fund is actually raising rent?
How do we know the Firehouse is closing? Has there been a media report or a sign or something or is this just a rumor?
This is bad news. I would think the lunch crowd would be enough to keep the place going. I really hate to see it go.
Quote from: stephendare on September 24, 2007, 03:14:29 PM
Only at the end do you realize that the 'orphanage' is a human chili factory.
What's wrong with chili? I love it specially on my hotdogs...ha (kidding.)
The clubs on Bay, TSI included don't have a problem because they mostly open after 5:00 when it's free to park and lots of people go down there then. Image what downtown could be during the day if parking was free during the day as it is at night.
I bet if parking wasn't free at night clubs like TSI and the Dive Bar would never had taken off like they have.
Quote from: RiversideGator on September 24, 2007, 05:52:24 PM
How do we know the Firehouse is closing? Has there been a media report or a sign or something or is this just a rumor?
I just made it up, but no seriously, there is a sign on their door that says they are closing on September 30th. The fact that most people were unaware of this leads me to believe that there is a good reason that the place is closing. Though, I go there quite often for lunch and am actaully very upset that they are closing. Downtown Jacksonville isn't exactly a bastian of culinary delights, so we weary downtown workers take whatever is available.
I really hope that other restaurants will open and flourish in DT. and hopefuly... Firehouse will once again make their way back into downtown.
Again, I think this is from a couple of things:
1. The parking situation - it's even worse for them because of the fact that Adams is a mess right there - across the street from their place is a couple of freight loading spots for Eddie Farah, A construction zone, since 20 West is the slowest development on the planet (and he's taken up parking for like 4 years).
2. Signage - There is almost none - they either put no effort into this, or the city shot them down. They should have a sign that sticks out from the corner of the building, so that it can be been form Adams AND Main. Look at Starbucks for support).
3. After lunch sales - I still don't get this. If they are talking about the time between 2 and 5, I don't get it. Let's say that they had one person in every 15 minutes (which even in the suburbs, is not that uncommon of traffic - we used to have a Subway next to our office, and that's about what they had). At $6 a sandwich, that's $72 dollars an afternoon, and that's Gross, not Net. I'm not in the restaraunt business, but that doesn't seem to be exactly high enough traffic to make or break the business. I still wonder if something else is going on, like the Fund needs Office Space, or they raised the rent, or something like that.
I was talking today with someone about the Subway closing downtown and I mentioned that I thought it was strange that there are not a Firehouse Subs or a Larry's Giant Subs downtown. She told me that both of those used to exist downtown, and that is how I stumbled onto this thread. What are the chances that either of those will return to downtown now that things seem to be improving? They aren't my favorite restaurants, but they sure beat Subway and Quiznos. I imagine a location near the new courthouse could survive on hungry jurors alone.
Quote from: remc86007 on September 29, 2017, 01:59:47 PM
I was talking today with someone about the Subway closing downtown and I mentioned that I thought it was strange that there are not a Firehouse Subs or a Larry's Giant Subs downtown. She told me that both of those used to exist downtown, and that is how I stumbled onto this thread. What are the chances that either of those will return to downtown now that things seem to be improving? They aren't my favorite restaurants, but they sure beat Subway and Quiznos. I imagine a location near the new courthouse could survive on hungry jurors alone.
Firehouse is not interested in returning downtown.
Larrys used to be at the corner of Adams/Forsyth. A Larrys franchisee was looking at a spot near the courthouse a few years ago (across from 121 FCU), but ran up against a non-compete agreement with 7-Eleven in the same building. That franchisee went on to open a different franchise (not a Larrys) downtown.
Noooo! Firehouse subs is my favorite :(
Quote from: Flonsickle on September 30, 2017, 03:50:07 PM
Noooo! Firehouse subs is my favorite :(
You made the same mistake I did. We didn't look at the date of this thread and notice that it was 10 years ago! It was only revived because of the Subway closing last week.
nooooo
subway now this, ugh. where will people hate-eat awful subs now? firehouse really had the "strangely damp, kindy chewy bread" which i always loved
^ Is that a joke or have I thoroughly confused people by resurrecting this old thread?
To be clear: No existing Firehouse subs is closing. The subway that was downtown until recently has closed.
Probably need to change the read title or something. It's definitely throwing people off.
I was reading about how the signage made it so nobody would know there was a Firehouse on Main Street and was like "damn, I drive Main Street every day and had no idea! How bad is this sign?" I guess its even less visible 10 years later than it was at the time the restaurant closed.
Quote from: JBTripper on October 02, 2017, 01:57:42 PM
I was reading about how the signage made it so nobody would know there was a Firehouse on Main Street and was like "damn, I drive Main Street every day and had no idea! How bad is this sign?" I guess its even less visible 10 years later than it was at the time the restaurant closed.
Downtown, and Jax in general, has some very odd and arcane signage laws.
Downtown signage codes are very restrictive, and hard to understand, but in the case of Firehouse, it was their landlord (the Police & Fire Pension Fund) who was very anti-sign...
There's always Quizno's and Jimmy John's for sammiches and chippies @ lunch time. I like the sammiches @ Akel's the best though. So many options yumm