Eegee's at 55: How a 1971 Frozen-Lemonade Truck Became Tucson's Most Recognizable Hometown Chain — and What's Next After Last Year's Bankruptcy

On a warm Saturday afternoon in May, the line for a small lemon eegee, a Grinder sub, and an order of ranch fries snakes out the door at the Speedway and Tucson Boulevard location, and the same scene is repeating itself at locations on Broadway, Thornydale, Tanque Verde, Cortaro, Oracle, and Valencia. Eegee's — Tucson's hometown sub-and-frozen-drink chain, founded in September 1971 by Ed Irving and Bob Greenberg as a single secondhand vending truck near the University of Arizona — turns 55 this September. After filing Chapter 11 in December 2024 and emerging in April 2025 under new ownership by Eegee Acquisition Corp., an affiliate of Gladstone Capital Corporation, all 25-plus Tucson-and-Phoenix-market locations stayed open and the chain's coupon-card program is back. Here is a sourced May 9, 2026 walk-through of how Eegee's became a Tucson institution, what is changing under new ownership in 2026, and why the locations map is a useful read on where Tucson's busiest retail nodes actually sit — for residents, summer-season relocators, and second-home buyers alike.