Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop in Rosslyn appears to have made its last sub.
The Delaware-founded and currently Las Vegas-based fast-casual sandwich chain seems to have closed its eatery on the ground floor of 1500 Wilson Blvd, across from the Target. Closed signs are posted on its doors, while equipment inside has been moved out.
Additionally, the store seems to have been scrubbed from Capriotti’s website.
ARLnow has reached out to the company to confirm its closure in Rosslyn but has yet to hear back as of publication.
Capriotti’s first opened on Wilson Blvd in August 2014 to considerable fanfare, with people camped out in order to get free sandwiches for a year. It was part of a torrid expansion for the company, with a number of other locations also opening in the D.C. area around the same time.
The sandwiches were famed for being a favorite of now-President Joe Biden, who attended the opening of the first Capriotti’s in D.C. in 2013 and reportedly liked to tell people that the shop was proof that Delaware makes the best sandwiches. During the first week of November 2020 and with Biden on his way to becoming the 46th president, sales rose by about 30% at the Capriotti’s in Rosslyn.
Despite that brief uptick in sales, though, it was already clear that Capriotti’s was struggling to generate enough sandwich sales to maintain its expanded presence in area. The location in Dupont Circle closed in 2018 and the location in Arlington was the last of the shops in the region.
The closest Capriotti’s currently open is in Chester, Maryland, southeast of Baltimore. An outpost is also reportedly coming to Dulles International Airport, which brings to mind the fact that the last Virginia location of once high-flying regional chain Taylor Gourmet is still slinging sandwiches at Reagan National Airport.
The first Capriotti’s opened in Wilmington, Delaware in 1976. It now has more than 100 locations and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.