Quiznos and new Leal's are planned

Clovis continues to add businesses.

The owner of Leal’s Mexican Restaurant on Tuesday committed to adding a second restaurant in the city.

Also, remodeling to a Prince Street building is underway for national crafts chain Hancock Fabrics and city officials said plans are set for a new shopping center in the area.

Laura Leal, owner of the restaurant on Mabry Drive, said she plans to add a second Clovis-based restaurant at 2115 N. Prince St., where Poor Boy’s Steakhouse currently stands.

The Mabry location, which was recently remodeled, will remain in business.

“The way Clovis is growing, we want to have two strong locations,” Leal said.

Poor Boy’s owner Margaret Hutchison said doors will close at the steakhouse at 9 p.m. tonight. Originally a butcher shop in 1964, it was converted to a restaurant in 1979.

Leal said remodeling and equipment installation at the new location will begin in coming weeks and she intends to open the restaurant in early July.

Opened in 1988, the Mabry Drive restaurant employs about 50, Leal said, and the new location will employ between 75 and 80.

Leal’s was established in Muleshoe as a tortilla factory in 1957 and first opened as a restaurant in the 1960s. Leal’s restaurants also exist in Amarillo, Plainview, Texas and Lawton, Okla.

“Since we are out on the highway there are still a lot of customers that don’t get out to eat with us as much as they want to,” Leal said. “We want to be able to service the people and be convenient to them.”

Hancock ready to sign

A representative from national sewing and crafts chain Hancock Fabrics said work is in progress and a grand opening could take place in about two months.

Jeff Blyth, Hancock Fabrics Real Estate Manager for the western region, said an agreement has been made for a store to open in the building adjacent to Hobby Lobby on Prince Street.

Blyth said the building is expected to open in late June. He expects the company to sign a lease by week’s end.

Remodeling has begun on the 13,400-square-foot area at 1925 N. Prince. Denise Workheiser, administrative assistant for the Clovis Department of Building Safety, said remodeling permits were issued March 29 for the fabric store.

Blyth said the company agreed on plans for the store during the past three or four months.

“We like the demographics of the town,” he said. “We are looking at some of the smaller markets for expansion opportunities.”

Albuquerque holds the only Hancock Fabric store in the state; Clovis will be the second. Blyth said Roswell, Santa Fe and Las Cruces are other New Mexico cities being considered for expansion.

There are 436 stores nationwide and Blyth said the company aims to open 40 to 50 additional stores nationwide each year.

Shopping center planned

Workheiser said digging is underway and plans are in hand for a shopping center at 3608 N. Prince, across from Lowe’s Hardware Store near Taco Villa.

She said according to the plans there will be a shopping center with five units. Immediate plans for the center include a Quiznos Sub shop, though no building permits have been issued.

She said the sub shop is planning to move into a 1,440-square-foot unit and the other units are roughly the same size.

“Right at this point I don’t have any other plans for that shopping center,” she said.

Quiznos representatives could not be reached for comment.