Riverside says goodbye to the Sub Station, a UC Riverside institution
By Fielding Buck, The Press-Enterprise The Tribune Content Agency
Sub Station Owner, Richard Munio, center, thanks everyone for their 54-years of support as he closes the shop with a two-day party for family, friends, and customers near UC Riverside in Riverside on Friday, June 19, 2026. City of Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson, left, and President and CEO, Greater Riverside Chamber of Commerce, Nicholas Adcock, help Munio celebrate the farewell of the Sub Station. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Terry Pierson
TNS
Customers and former employees from as far away as New York have been flocking to the Sub Station near UC Riverside for its final weekend in business.
The sandwich shop has been part of campus life since 1972. It is in Bannockburn Village, a housing and retail complex across from the university's athletic facilities. It is slated for demolition this summer.
Sub Station Owner, Richard Munio, second from right, poses for a family as Sub Station is closing after 54 years with a two-day party for family and friends near UC Riverside in Riverside on Friday, June 19, 2026. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
University of California-Riverside Chancellor S. Jack Hu, with Sub Station Owner, Richard Munio, left, pose for a photo as City of Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson, takes a selfie with President and CEO, Greater Riverside Chamber of Commerce, Nicholas Adcock in front of the restaurant near UC Riverside in Riverside on Friday, June 19, 2026. The Sub Station is closing after 54 years with a two-day party for family and friends. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Sub Station Owner, Richard Munio, center, thanks everyone for their 54-years of support as he closes the shop with a two-day party for family, friends, and customers near UC Riverside in Riverside on Friday, June 19, 2026. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Customer Mary Stenger, right, tears up as she remembers being a customer on opening day 54-years ago and will be one on the last as the Sub Station is closing after 54 years with a two-day party for family and friends near UC Riverside in Riverside on Friday, June 19, 2026. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
City of Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson smiles as she holds a challenge coin commemorating the Sub Station's 54-years of business during the two-day party for family and friends as the restaurant closes near UC Riverside in Riverside on Friday, June 19, 2026. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
A sub waits to be picked up at the Sub Station near UC Riverside in Riverside on Friday, June 19, 2026. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
The line was out the front door as customers wait to order their last sub from the Sub Station, as it closes after 54 years with a two-day party for family and friends near UC Riverside in Riverside on Friday, June 19, 2026. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Customers leave with arms full of subs from the Sub Station as it is closing after 54 years, with a two-day party for family and friends near UC Riverside in Riverside on Friday, June 19, 2026. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Caitlin Lopez, 41, points to a photo of her when she was an employee at the Sub Station in 2007 as she and many workers retired to say goodbye as the Sub Station is closing after 54 years with a two-day party for family and friends near UC Riverside in Riverside on Friday, June 19, 2026. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Dani Carpenter records her father and Sub Station Owner, Richard Munio, as the Sub Station is closing after 54 years, with a two-day party for family and friends near UC Riverside in Riverside on Friday, June 19, 2026. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Customers leave with arms full of subs from the Sub Station as it is closing after 54 years, with a two-day party for family and friends near UC Riverside in Riverside on Friday, June 19, 2026. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Rebecca Rigler takes orders just as she did more than 10-years ago as an employee at the Sub Station during the two-day closing party for family and friends near UC Riverside in Riverside on Friday, June 19, 2026. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Sub Station Owner, Richard Munio, center, thanks everyone for their 54-years of support as he closes the shop with a two-day party for family, friends, and customers near UC Riverside in Riverside on Friday, June 19, 2026. City of Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson, left, and President and CEO, Greater Riverside Chamber of Commerce, Nicholas Adcock, help Munio celebrate the farewell of the Sub Station. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Owner Richard Munio is ending the shop's 54-year run with a two-day party Friday and Saturday, June 19-20. Festivities included free ice cream and a DJ spinning hits from the 1970s. The first tune was "After the Love is Gone," by Earth, Wind & Fire.
Friday kicked off at 9 a.m. with tributes by Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson, UCR Chancellor S. Jack Hu and Nicholas Adcock, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce.
When the testimonials started, Munio joked, "Let's all go to breakfast at Denny's."
The first customer to arrive was one of Munio's first customers in 1972. Mary Stenger went to the Sub Station on its first day in nearby Watkins Plaza, where it was briefly located before moving to Bannockburn Village, and has been coming ever since.
"I'm coming tomorrow, because it's the last day. First day, last day," she said.
Stenger ordered her favorite: a turkey sandwich with toasted bread and no mayo. She used to order the shop's signature sandwich, the Big Dude, for her kids and grandkids. It's made with capicola, ham, dry salami, pepperoni and cheese.
Like many regulars, she considers Munio and the Sub Station to be family. Regulars have been coming out in force to support Munio, with huge lunch crowds earlier in the week. Chris Porter tried to come on Thursday but gave up after he saw a 45-minute line out the door and around the building.
Firefighter Tim Odebralski brought 200 challenge coins made for the occasion as well as his restored 1957 VW van, where Munio and his family posed for pictures.
Odebralsi is also working on a documentary about the shop that he calls a labor of love.
David and Judy Attaway came in from Pahrump, Nev., for the closing. They attended UCR from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s; Sub Station was a central part of their college experience. David Attaway walked around the corner to his old apartment, which was upstairs over a Baskin-Robbins in the same building. It was across a courtyard from a restaurant called the Bull and Mouth, later the Getaway Cafe, which closed last year.
Munio estimated that he employed about 800 people over the years, many of them UCR students whom he hired as freshmen and who stayed with him for four years. He taught his "Subbers" about the world of work, but also took them on fun trips to places like the beach. Their snapshots line the walls of the dining rooms.
Several Subbers came back, and not just to visit. Rebecca Rigler of Irvine, a Subber from 2011 to 2015, was working a cash register as an "extra hand."
She connected with Tiffany Guerlich and Jonathan Philibert, who found themselves in a photo collage.
Guerlich pointed to her picture and remembered when it was taken. "We were going to Medieval Times. We got pulled over, had a flat tire."
Philibert, who is now in data services and lives in Brooklyn, flew in for a 36-hour visit.
He said as a subber, he had about 35 different duties, from making soup to dealing with happy and unhappy customers, that provided valuable life lessons.
"You worked hard, you played hard," said Guerich. "It was like going in and being with your friends."
In its last hours, the Sub Station was beginning to run out of some things. A sign on one of the cash registers read, "No pickles, no pesto."
But there was a large rack of $25 commemorative T-shirts in the dining room. They read, "End of an era."
