Odd Combo: Indiana Town Features a Car Wash with a Subway Restaurant

It's not terribly uncommon for two businesses to operate out of the same building, especially if they're owned by the same company or franchisee. For example, in Evansville, we had a building on the west side of town that was both a KFC and Taco Bell for several years before KFC was removed and the building became a standalone Taco Bell. On the north side, we have a Dunkin and Baskin Robbins in the same building. But I don't remember ever seeing a restaurant combined with a non-restaurant business like the one in northeastern Indiana that showed up in my Facebook news feed recently.

Take a Look at This Subway / Car Wash Combo

Before you start typing up an e-mail, I know it is common for gas stations and convenience stores to have popular fast-food restaurants inside them. But they both sell food, so at least there is some commonality there. There's nothing I can think of that a car wash and a Subway have in common. Yet, this one exists in Argos, Indiana. A roughly 35 to 40-minute drive south of South Bend.

Yep. That is a real picture of a real thing that exists. My assumption is that the building is owned by one person who is a big fan of clean cars and footlong sandwiches. What I don't know is which came first, the car wash or the Subway? Even though I have no evidence to base it on, I feel like the car wash came first and the Subway was office space for it at some point.

I want to be clear that I'm not dogging the concept. It just caught my attention because I have never seen anything quite like it before, and I thought maybe you haven't either. Unless you're from Argos, then you see it every day. For what it's worth, Argos is a small town of less than 1,800 people (1,766, to be exact) and it seems that fast food options are limited. While it does have a handful of local restaurants, the only other fast food joint that shows up in a search on Google Maps is Mcdonald's, right across the street from the Subway car wash. Clearly, there was a demand for another option, and whoever created this concept made it happen. My hat's off to them.

Part of me wonders if you can add a car wash to your Subway combo meal. Could I walk up to the counter, order an Italian B.M.T., and have the employee ask if I'd like to add a works wash to that for $8.99? Also, is it weird that I want to drive to Argos just to eat at this Subway even though it's nearly a four-and-a-half-hour drive for me?

I haven't been to that part of the state in many, many years, but if I find myself in that neighborhood someday, you better believe I'm stopping to get a sub along with a wash and wax.