Sad news for Subway lovers as they announce the closure of hundreds of restaurants

The iconic fast food chain decides to take a major step to beat the intense competition in the sandwich industry.

Subway announced that they will be closing around 500 stores on various locations across the United States. According to Faith Family America, the announcement has come amid 'an intense competition' seen in the sandwich industry.

Fortune magazine further reported that Subway is looking to focus on offering 'nicer restaurants' rather than have many restaurants all over the pace. To achieve this, the company is willing to shut down a large number of their stores.

The source also informed that Subway is facing stiff competition not just from companies specializing in making sandwiches such as McDonald's and Panera Bread, they are also facing cutthroat competition from Target and Walgreens.

The CEO of Subway Restaurants, Suzanne Greco stated in an interview with Bloomberg news that the company was now looking to ensure that they place themselves in the best of locations. "Store count isn't everything," she further stated.

However, despite shutting such a large number of stores inside the U.S., the company is definitely planning on expanding its reach across North America.

The source suggested that Subway is planning on adding more stores as they fight to become the top lunch spot in the market.

As of now, Subway is a ubiquitous store which is the largest store in the U.S. on the basis of store count. It serves at over 26,000 locations. It outnumbers other top competitors like McDonald's, which had got about 14,000 stores across the country.

The online source reported that the news of the shutdown of so many stores across the country has come as a huge shock for the fans as Subway has been one of the nation's iconic restaurants and fast food chains.