Pilar Martinez: Gyro's welcome? Greek chain seeks NM franchisees

Apr. 5—ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An Idaho-based Greek fast casual chain is looking to make the jump to the Southwest with plans to expand in New Mexico in the near future.

Gyro Shack's menu consists largely of its namesake gyros as well as other Greek-inspired options like rice bowls, breakfast gyros and salads.

"We're just really excited to grow," president Seth Brink said. "We've taken a lot of time during COVID to ... take a step back and thankfully we were able to maintain our sales."

The planned expansion into Albuquerque coincides with a regional expansion including other parts of New Mexico and Arizona, Brink said.

He said the company is looking to expand through franchising options and is aiming to find franchisees to open three or four locations in Albuquerque. The company is also looking at other metro areas like Santa Fe for franchises.

Brink said that depending on a franchise agreement, Albuquerque could see its first Gyro Shack location open this year — and a New Mexico location could include some local fare.

"As you look at coming into ... the New Mexico market, Albuquerque specifically, obviously we will have to do something with chiles because I think that we will get run out of the state if we don't," he said.

Gyro Shack currently operates nine locations in Idaho, according to a company spokesperson.

Stores range from less than 500 square feet to 1,800 square feet with most of the business coming from drive-thru and delivery sales.

A news release announcing the expansion said ideal franchisees should have three to five years of restaurant experience and have a minimum net worth of $500,000 for a single unit.

For more information, visit gyroshack.com/franchise/.

Chase Bank adding two more ABQ locations

Chase Bank is continuing its expansion into New Mexico with two more branch locations planned to open in Albuquerque.

The two locations at 8001 Wyoming NE and 9261 Coors NW are both slated to open in the second half of the year, said Maura Cordova, a bank spokeswoman.

In late 2020, the company announced plans to move into the Albuquerque market.

At the time, Cordova said Chase already had over 140,000 consumer customers and 6,200 business customers in the state despite not operating any physical branch locations in New Mexico.

The two additional bank branches brings the total number of Chase branches to four.

Kids' shoehorn maker makes the bigs

An Albuquerque-based company selling children's shoehorns will soon be carried by Amazon and Zappos.

Bright Kids LLC, the manufacturer of Little Piggie Shoehorns, was launched in 2019 by Tina Bagon in order to help her children put on their shoes in the morning, according to a news release announcing the deal.

"I've worked diligently to develop a tool for busy parents that will make the morning routine a little easier on everyone," Bagon said in the news release. "The Little Piggie Kids Shoehorn line is designed with the anatomy of little feet and little hands in mind."

The shoehorns are available in five different colors and characters and can be purchased at brightkidsllc.com, amazon.com or zappos.com.

Promotional product firm opens showroom

Bright Ideas Group, an Albuquerque-based promotional products company, officially opened its new retail space in the Northeast Heights last week.

The new location at 7400 Montgomery NE will serve as the main showroom for the company and is directly next to Bright Ideas' sister stores Rowan Apparel and Embroidery Plus, company spokeswoman Esmeralda Trujillo said.

Trujillo said the new location is kind of like "a one-stop shopping experience for promotional products."

"We have a ton of promotional products on display ranging from tumblers to shirts to little gadgets," she said. "Anything that you can put your name on or brand or logo, we've definitely got it."

While the showroom moved from its previous location on Jefferson, Trujillo said the printing press is remaining at the Jefferson location.

"We feel like being more centrally located and near ... our sister stores, that it would be an easier shopping experience," she said.

Bright Ideas is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Consulting company leaves Downtown

After 44 years in its Downtown office, Architectural Research Consultants Inc. is moving to the Northeast Heights.

ARC specializes in providing services ranging from master planning, spatial condition assessment, evaluation and research, according to Erma Sedillo, office administrator.

The company's new address is 4906 Alameda NE.

Sedillo said an open house will be held at a later date.

Law firm with ABQ presence rebrands

Phoenix-based law firm Lewis Roca has shortened its name from Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP, according to a spokeswoman for the firm.

The century-old law firm operates an Albuquerque office at 201 Third NW.

Pilar Martinez covers retail and commercial real estate for the Journal. She can be reached at pmartinez@abqjournal.com.