Subway May Close Up To 500 More Stores In The U.S.

MILFORD, CT — Subway, which has nearly 26,000 stores in the United States, may close up to 500 locations in North America through the end of 2018, but the Milford-based company is far from scaling back as officials want to open 1,000 new stores overseas, according to media reports.

Even when Subway reduces its numbers in the U.S., it will still far and away have the most stores as YUM Brand, which operates Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC, is in second place with 17,500 locations, according to CNN Money. If you are wondering, McDonald's has 14,000 locations in the U.S.

If your local Subway survives the cut, and we don't know which ones will close as of yet, you'll notice some changes. There will be self-service kiosks, better seating and Wi-Fi and USB charging ports, CNN Money reports.

In a statement to Patch, a Subway spokesperson said, "Subway restaurants are 100% Franchisee owned and operated, and our commitment to the Franchisees is to work with them to make each restaurant more successful. Subway is the world’s largest restaurant chain and we are confident we will remain the industry leader.

"In North America we are implementing an aggressive revitalization plan, which we expect to result in the closing, consolidation or relocation of a few hundred locations in 2018. Simultaneously, outside of North America we expect to open more than 1,000 new restaurants this year. Looking out over the next decade, we anticipate having a slightly smaller, but more profitable footprint in North America and a significantly larger footprint in the rest of the world," the Subway spokesperson said.

Subway began to cut back its number of stores in 2016 when it closed 350 locations. Last year another 800 stores closed which up until today left the number of Subways in the U.S. at 25,908, Bloomberg reports.

In a way, Subway officials are responding to competition and officials say they want to improve the look and functionality of their stores for customers.

"We want to be sure that we have the best location,” Subway Restaurants CEO Suzanne Greco told Bloomberg News in an interview. “Store count isn’t everything.” A Subway spokeswoman told Fortune the company expects “having a slightly smaller, but more profitable footprint in North America” but with far more stores overseas.

Subway's sales slipped by 4.4 percent in 2017, Fortune reports.

Photo credit: Subway