Kmart sub creates frenzy at Villa Bakery in Garden City, but other places sell it, too

A metro Detroit bakery well known for its pizza bread is back with another round of a blue light special — literally.

Villa Bakery in Garden City, known for its creativity with its baked goods offerings — from its take on Sanders Bumpy Cakes to specialty paczki — created a frenzy (and a lineup at its store) with its Kmart sub sandwich.

Candy VanLue, who runs Villa Bakery at 6237 Middlebelt Road, told the Free Press the Kmart subs will be offered again this Friday, Oct. 3 starting at 7 a.m. A hefty 800 subs will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, but VanLue plans to have ingredients on hand to make plenty more.

When the bakery announced the Kmart sub offering last week, they made and sold more than 1,000 last Friday.

VanLue said she has thought about offering the Kmart sub for some time. The inspiration came after a regular customer told her about a place in Fraser that offered the same style of sub.

“But it was never the right time,” VanLue said. “This time I thought, ‘We can do it well.’ And it went crazy.”

VanLue said she was not too surprised by the popularity of the subs because of the comments from people excited about it left on the Facebook post announcing the Kmart sub special.

“Everyone has a good experience (with the sub) and I heard them talking about their Kmart experience in line,” VanLue said.

Built on nostalgia, Villa Bakery’s subs are reminiscent of the ones wrapped in plastic and sold at former Kmart stores.

What is on Villa Bakery’s Kmart sub?

TheKmart sub at Villa Bakery consists of a hoagie bun with a spread of yellow mustard and layers of cotto salami with peppercorns, honey ham and bologna deli meats.

The meats are topped with American cheese, thinly sliced white onion, lettuce, tomato, pickle slices and mild banana peppers.

The whole sub sandwich is wrapped in plastic and costs $5.99 each.

Villa Bakery has been owned by VanLue’s family for 23 years but has been in Garden City since 1964. It’s known for its pizza bread with a pizza sauce, pepperoni and cheese filling, selling more than 700 a day, VanLue said, at $6 each. The bakery is also known for its cannoli with a cannoli cream filling and butter cookies.

VanLue is not sure if the Kmart subs will be offered as a regular item, but said it’s a possibility.

If you can’t make it to Villa Bakery, these places around metro Detroit also offer a Kmart-style sub. And, if you have memories of Kmart or other long-gone food items, tell us about it. You can email us at [email protected] and tell us about those you miss.

Lunch Wyandotte

3050 Biddle Ave., Wyandotte

On the menu at this take-out sandwich spot in downtown Wyandotte is the Blue Light Special Sub, inspired by the classic Kmart sub.

The 8-inch sub is $9.24, according to its website, and has American cheese, bologna, ham, salami, topped with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, banana peppers and pickles served with a mustard sauce.

The Market

20175 Telegraph, Brownstown

The Market’s version of the Kmart sub is an 8-inch sub with layers of deli meat on an Oakwood Bakery sub roll. Subs are $10.99 each and, according to its Facebook page, sold in the stores in its grab-and-go section. The subs feature all Boarshead deli meats and include thinly sliced Genoa salami, honey ham, bologna, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, white onion, mild peppers, pickle chips and yellow mustard.

The Market in Brownstown has a version of the Kmart sub that is made with Boarshead deli meats. (USA TODAY Network)

Oak House Deli

603 S. Washington, Royal Oak

This Royal Oak spot’s Kmart version sandwich rolled out for $3.99 for now. On Thursday, Oak House Deli, known for its vegan options, announced a vegan version of the Kmart sub for $5.99. The vegan sub includes vegan lunch meats and cheese and all the fixins, lettuce, tomato, onion and pickles, as the nonvegan version. For now, both subs are permanent items on the OIak House Deli menu.

Schott’s Market

16659 E. 14 Mile Road

Fraser586-293-7790

Sandy Thomas, owner of the Schott’s Market, says they’ve been making the Kmart sub for three years now. With the latest Kmart sub frenzy over the last two weeks, Thomas said they are selling more than 150 a day. The 8-inch subs are $6.99 and served on a sesame seed bun made by a local bakery for Schott’s Market.

Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news and tips to: [email protected]. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter. 

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Kmart sub creates frenzy at Villa Bakery in Garden City, but other places sell it, too

Reporting by Susan Selasky, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect