“There are a number of Quizno’s closing,” says Gwin, and Blimpie's has a program to retrofit closed sub shops into Blimpies, he says.

“In some outlying markets in Atlanta,” says Pope, “retailers got ahead of the curve. Some large planned unit developments were never built out, so the retail suffered and rental rates were corrected,” he says. “In mature, residential markets, the rates have not adjusted that much.”

The recession itself has driven more people into the franchise business, says Gwin. “People are being laid off, but they still have money, so they are getting into franchising. There are lots of people in real estate, who are twiddling their thumbs, because the housing market isn’t what it was,” he says.

Blimpie is owned by the Kahala Corporation, a national franchisor with 12 different brands. Although Blimpie is a better recognized brand than some, says Gwin, Cold Stone Creamery ice-cream stores are also in Kahala’s stable of brands. In strip centers and other locations, sometimes the two brands are put together. Blimpie’s is sometimes paired with Surf City Squeeze or Cold Stone Creamery.

Not only is Blimpie’s paired with other brands, it comes with different formats, says Gwin. There are traditional, stand-alone restaurants as well as smaller prototypes in non-traditional settings like hospitals, colleges and gas station stores.

Blimpie’s franchise fee for a traditional store is $18,000, and for a non-traditional store in a college or a hospital, it is $10,000. The buildout costs for a traditional Blimpie’s store is roughly $150,000 to $170,000, says Pope. That is in additional to the franchise fee, he says. And a non-traditional store can be built for $60,000 to $70,000.

Buildout itself usually take four to six weeks for the traditional format and three to four weeks for a non-traditional format. The traditional stores have 1200 to 1400 square feet, while a non-traditional store could be as small as 600 to 700 square feet. “We are versatile in making our brand fit,” says Gwin.