On Wednesday afternoon, the message on the sign outside the Great American Hero sandwich shop on Lemmon Avenue in Dallas was being changed.
"Grand re-opening," former owner Dominick Oliverie said reading the sign. "It didn't die. God bless!"
In August 2021, Oliverie announced after 47-years he was retiring and closing the Great American Hero, a place that regularly has lines out the door for lunch.
When the news got out, Jason Cox became a lunchtime regular.
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"I came back for 30-days in a row after that and bought a sandwich every single day," Cox said. "I tried a different sandwich every day I came in at lunch."
He was hoping his lunch would turn into a lunch meeting with Oliverie.
"Yep," Cox said. "Started with five minutes, then 10 minutes, and then those became hour-long discussions multiple times a day, phone calls, face-to-face."
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Those led to negotiations, which led to Cox and his business partner, Danny Wilson, buying the Great American Hero.
"To see the amount of effort, and time, and love that Dominick has put into this, it's really overwhelming to me," Cox said.
"We're gonna try to stay as true as possible to what has made the Great American Hero what it is today," Wilson said. "We don't want to reinvent the wheel."
The new owners plan to keep the same old staff and menu. Oliveierie said he'll be a phone call away, but he won't be working there.
"I'm retired," Oliverie said. "But I'm not gonna just sit home and veg out." He plans to travel, and visit family and friends.
"I'm really proud of what we've done," Oliverie said. "And to keep it going is a dream."
The Great American Hero closed at the end of the year but will reopen on Monday, January 10.
The new owners said it will remain at 4001 Lemon Ave., Dallas for at least three months, but they need to find a new space to move, preferably close to the original location.
