Our Hero opening location on East Main Street in Springfield

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Our Hero, a local submarine shop with a long history in Clark and Champaign counties, is planning to open a new store within the next two weeks.

Originally founded in Urbana in 1976, Our Hero will open its fourth location at 1802 E. Main St. in Springfield, said Doug Rowland, owner of the business. The location previously served as Moose’s Middle Eastern Deli, but that business closed about two months ago, he said.

Once open, the new store will likely employ about 15 workers. The business employs about 40 workers overall, Rowland estimated. Having a store on East Main Street will allow the restaurant to serve customers in that part of the city, he said. They will lease the building from its owner.

“It’s just been so busy that we need to divide the business up a little bit in order to serve the amount of customers we’ve been getting,” he said. “It kind of takes a little of the edge off each unit, especially here in Springfield.”

Along with a location on North Main Street in Urbana, Our Hero also has locations in Springfield at 2983 Derr Road and 1020 N. Plum St. The local chain also previously operated a store on Selma Road, but that closed about six years ago.

The restaurant has a long history in the area. Rowland’s parents started the sub shop in Urbana, and he started working for the family business after graduating college. Our Hero sells more than 20 varieties of sandwiches, along with salads, soups and other items.

“We’ve been waiting for some time for that unit to open,” Rowland said of the new location. “We’ve had our eyes on it for some time now. It has always been a store that we kind of wanted.”

Although some renovations were needed, the transition from Moose’s to the new store was relatively easy, he said.

“We’re 98 percent done, we just have a few things we have to wrap up,” Rowland said.