A new eatery is coming to downtown Utica - and it should be open in less than a year. Jimmy John's, a national sandwich chain based in Illinois has plans to put a new shop in the old Rite Aid store, located next to Freeman and Foote Jewelers at 165 Genesee St.

The Rite Aid store closed several years ago and the space has remained vacant ever since.

According to WKTV, it's unknown when construction will begin on the store,  but the sandwich shop could be open by early spring, 2018. The new store will be owned by the same company as the New Hartford location on Campion Road.  That location will remain open.

Jimmy John's was founded in 1983 and has over 2,000 shop in 43 states across the country.

Before the New Hartford store opened in 2015, the closest Jimmy John's to our area was in Syracuse.

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