A hoagie shop in Altoona has a new lease on life. Woody’s On The Boulevard closed down recently but one Altoona man decided to take a chance and revive the classic shop with some new twists.
Douglas Braff talked with the shop’s new owner and is live in Altoona with more
Running a successful business is a lot like crafting a delicious sandwich. You need to have the right ingredients and put some love into it.
Brent Zimmerman certainly has all of that.
“I’ve always wanted a sandwich shop, you know, just, I don’t know why, it’s just always been something that appealed to me. So, when I’d seen they were closing their doors, I thought it was a great opportunity to try to jump in and try to buy it and revive it.”
For this Altoona native it was an opportunity that doesn’t come by often.
“It was kind of spur the moment. We’d seen it was closing, I reached out to the current owner, made him an offer. He took the offer and, you know, a month later, here we are, we opened up and been doing good ever since.”
They officially opened their doors on March 7th.
“Business has been very good. We’re very happy. We’re actually just moments away from selling our one-thousandth cheesesteak.”
While Zimmerman is looking to change up some things at the shop, he says the main staples, like their famous dressing and boar’s head meats, will stay the same.
“They’re glad that we’re using the Boar’s Head meat, the same dressing. They’re glad to see that we stayed open. They had good clientele, good customer base, and they’re, they’re thrilled to be here.”
Zimmerman says some of the new menu items include more dinners and desserts with more items on the way. And they’ve upgraded the cheesesteak, which he says has been a “big, big hit.”
But the biggest change is the overall look of the place. Zimmerman says he wanted to add a laid back, surfer vibe to the shop.
“It’s a lot of work, but it feels great. And we’re glad that we’re here in this community of Altoona to give back and be something really good as a staple that people really know and enjoy, you know.”
Zimmerman tells me he expects the shop’s official Grand Opening to happen sometime in April.
