Subway Restaurant Coming To Downtown Overton

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

EDIT: DUE TO UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES, THE OPENING HAS BEEN DELAYED UNTIL WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6TH AT 8AM.

The subway is coming to Overton, and we aren’t talking about underground public transit. A new Subway restaurant will be opening on Monday, October 4 with initial operating hours of 8 am to 8 pm. The store is located at 123 S. Moapa Valley Blvd in downtown Overton.

Though it is a well-known national franchise, the local Subway will be a family-owned and operated small business. The building was purchased last year by Brian Draper of St. George, Utah.

Draper also owns both of the two Subway shops in Mesquite. He opened the first one, located in the Smith’s fuel station convenience store, back in 1998. Then he added the second restaurant in Mesquite Walmart in 2006.

Both of these restaurants have been managed by Draper’s two sons Jamie and Nick Draper, also of St. George. Overseeing the two Mesquite locations has been their responsibility since they were both very young. Nick even started working in the Smith’s shop when he was a young teenager.

These two brothers will be working together now to manage the Overton shop as well.
“We work well together now as adults because we fought out all our differences when we were kids,” said younger brother Nick with a chuckle during an interview with The Progress last week.

Having a Moapa Valley location is a goal that has been a long time coming for the Drapers.
“For more than 10 years, probably, we have had the goal of coming down and opening something in Logandale or Overton,” Jamie said. “Several years ago, we almost bought a piece of property in Overton to build a store on it. But it never worked out.”

About two years ago, the family began reaching out to the owner of the former Carley’s building to see about renting it. But they couldn’t reach an agreement. Finally, last year, the conversation turned to buying the place. A fair offer was accepted and the sale closed toward the end of 2020.

The Drapers hired a contractor and went right to work on the building. There was a lot to do.
“We had our work cut out for us because the building was in pretty rough shape,” said Nick Draper. “But it has come a long way.”

That is an understatement. The tired old space that once was Carly’s restaurant, has now been transformed into a bright, clean and airy shop with all new furnishings and Subway yellow and green decor.

The Drapers had intended to be open by last May. But they hit several snags in the permitting process and the project has dragged on longer than expected.

Now the construction is finally finished and a few last details are still needed before the store has its opening.

Last week, Jamie and Nick were busy hiring a new local staff. They expect to employ about a dozen people to work in the shop.

Jamie said that there has already been a lot of excitement about the opening. “We have people stopping in, knocking on the door all throughout the day asking when we are opening,” he said. “There seems to be a lot of anticipation.”

The two brothers plan to stay in the community for the first several weeks to oversee the opening of the Overton store. But even after things are running smoothly, they plan to be here almost daily to see that things are going well.

“Our idea is to always have one of us in a store, even if it is for a partial day,” Jamie said. “We are hanging out, getting to know people and making sure that things are done right.”

The Drapers have already been somewhat invested in Moapa Valley, even with their stores in Mesquite. For the past couple of years they have been sponsors of the MVHS Senior Bash party for graduates.
“The organizers of that have called and asked us to donate prizes and food and stuff and we have been glad to do it,” Jamie said. “We want to be involved in the community. And now that we have a location here, we will do even more of that.”