Potbelly has leased space for a new sandwich shop on South Preston Road in Celina, with the company targeting a summer 2027 opening. The shop will sit north of Ownsby Parkway at 4520 S. Preston Road, Ste. 100, inside the Celina Crossing complex, and it joins a growing list of North Texas locations the chain has been rolling out as it courts one of the country's fastest-expanding suburbs.
A Preston Road Address With a State-Filed Timeline
According to Community Impact, a company representative confirmed Potbelly has leased the Celina space, which will offer the chain's typical menu of sandwiches, wraps, soups and salads. A Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation filing tied to the project, registered as TABS2027000433, lays out more granular detail: a $450,000, 2,000-square-foot tenant finish-out with construction running from December 29, 2026, to June 15, 2027, filed under owner PX TX Celina SPT, L.P. and design firm DXU Architects. That construction window lines up with the summer 2027 opening target the shop is aiming for, and the project is described as one of several Potbelly locations planned for the greater Dallas area, with the company noting that North Texas remains an important part of its broader growth strategy.
In McKinney, Potbelly leased a 1,967-square-foot space in the Eldorado Neighborhood Shops, a project anchored by Trader Joe's near Eldorado Parkway and Stonebridge Drive, also carrying a $450,000 buildout — a project Hoodline covered in Potbelly's move into McKinney.
Why Celina Keeps Landing on Retailers' Radar
The city Potbelly is betting on isn't just growing — it's growing faster than almost anywhere else in the country. U.S. Census Bureau population estimates released in May 2026 ranked Celina as the fastest-growing city in the nation among municipalities with at least 20,000 residents, with the population surging 24.6% between July 2024 and July 2025, according to Fox 5 New York. Hoodline puts the city's population at 64,427.
That population curve helps explain why Celina's commercial corridors keep drawing big-box and franchise interest. Celina City Council approved a $3.4 million sales tax reimbursement agreement in July 2026 to support a 150,000-square-foot, $25 million Walmart Supercenter on 41 acres near the Dallas North Tollway, marking the city's second Walmart deal within months, a development Hoodline detailed in its report on Celina's second Walmart Supercenter.
A Chain Reshaped by New Ownership and Franchise Incentives
Potbelly's push into Celina comes amid a broader corporate transformation. Atlanta-based convenience store operator RaceTrac completed a $566 million all-cash acquisition of Potbelly Corporation in October 2025, taking the previously publicly traded sandwich brand private, according to reporting from Mass Market Retailers. Since then, the chain has leaned harder into franchise-led growth, including a 50/50 Large Area Developer Incentive Program launched in March 2025 that offers multi-unit operators reduced initial fees and half off royalty fees if they commit to opening at least 15 locations within eight years and beat their development timelines, per Potbelly Corporation's own program materials.
Locally, that expansion strategy has already taken shape through a multi-unit franchise deal Potbelly executed with Burke Restaurant Group in September 2025, aimed at opening nine new locations across northern Dallas-Fort Worth in McKinney, Allen, Princeton, Melissa, Denton and Flower Mound, as reported by CraveDFW. Whether the Celina shop will operate as a corporate location or fall under one of these North Texas franchise agreements remains an open detail that has not yet been clarified. Company disclosures indicate Potbelly operated more than 400 shops nationwide as of late 2025, while the chain pursues franchise-led development.
The Celina project adds to Potbelly's growing North Texas presence. For a city adding tens of thousands of residents in just a few years, the sandwich shop is one more sign that national retailers are betting big on Celina's continued climb.
