The subway decreased to less than 20,000 American stores for the first time in 20 years

For the first time in 20 years, the number of local sites in the metro decreased to less than 20,000, according to the recently released concession detection documents. In 2024 alone, the company closed 631 restaurants across the United States, leaving it with 19502 stores worldwide.

Subway still has the title of the largest chain of restaurants in the country through the number of units.

Subway did not respond to a comment from Business Insider, but in a statement of CNN, SUBWAY said it evaluates an American imprint “using a strategic approach that depends on data to ensure that restaurants are in the right location, image, coordination and operation by the right concessions.”

The company told CNN that it opens new restaurants and “transporting or closing sites as needed” to keep a consistent guest experience.

The latest wave of closing the metro follows a decrease in its peak at 27,000 sites in 2015 and a series of legal problems.

The Subway’s image took a big blow in 2015 when Jard FGLE, the brand’s spokesperson, has long been admitted as guilty of sex crimes that include the palace and sentenced to about 16 years in prison.

Subway’s rapid expansion also began in reverse results in 2016 when the company gave the priority of the quantity, and the markets fell with stores and often put privileges inside blocks from each other, which led to internal competition, according to the concession owners who previously spoke to BI.

In 2021, a collective lawsuit of tuna in tuna claimed that it was not manufactured from the actual tuna. In 2023, the case was rejected.

Despite its decline in the United States, the number of international sites in the subway witnessed the second year in a row.