ALTAMONT — A chain sandwich shop will soon join the mix of locally-owned restaurants in the village.

With 26,465 stores in 85 countries, Subway is one of the largest fast food chains; McDonald’s has roughly 30,000 stores in 119 countries. The Subway that is to open in October in Jeff Thomas’s Victorian-styled mini-mall, Altamont Corners, is owned by Larry Jasenski, who owns 12 other subway restaurants in the Capital Region.
"I was looking for another food option," said Thomas of filling the last available space in the mall, which has been empty for over a year. The mall was built around a long-time tenant, Paisano’s Pizza, then a spa was added and, finally, an exercise center.
Initially, Thomas had hoped for a smaller scale café, but, he said, "It was time to get somebody in there."

Thomas got several offers from people who wanted to open a Laundromat in that space, but he didn’t think that was a good fit, although he thinks that Altamont needs a Laundromat, he said.
The new "Tuscany" look and outdoor seating that subway has is a better option for the mini-mall, Thomas said.
"Altamont has great demographics for Subway," said Jasenski, when asked why he chose this location. Jasenski is the president of Draper Development, which he founded to handle the subway restaurants; it also does construction, he said.

Both Thomas and Jasenski said that they expect Subway will bring in more business to Altamont and won’t be too much competition for the other village restaurants.
"There’s enough business for everyone," said Cindy Pollard, who is expanding the Home Front Café, the World War II-themed restaurant across the street from Altamont Corners. She expressed disapproval at being asked about her reaction to the arrival of a chain restaurant, but said, "Every town should rejoice when a new business wants to come in."

Jean Conklin, owner of Hungerford Market, the bagel shop at the corner of Main and Maple, did not return calls for comment.
"We don’t see them as a competitor," said Dan Leone, owner of Paisano’s Pizza Villa at the other end of the Altamont Corners plaza. Paisano’s hand rolls the meatballs for its subs and makes its own pizza dough everyday. "That’s a distinction to be made between what they do and what we do," he said of Subway.
"Many of our customers have been inquisitive with respect to what appears to them to be an encroachment of our lease. Legally, such is not the case," said Leone.

In 2001, he said, Paisano’s entered into a 25-year lease with the Stewart’s Corporation, which owned the building at the time. Stewart’s had Paisano’s draw up the lease, which specified that no other tenant could sell pizza or pizza-related products, said Leone.
"At that time, one other tenant occupied the remaining space. The tenant sold sub sandwiches," Leone said, so he did not include sub sandwiches with the pizza restriction in the lease. That lease was transferred to Thomas when he bought the building, said Leone.
"Reality is, competition is what it is," said Leone. "Competition is the spice of life."