Subway in Tucumcari to close after lease ends

The Subway restaurant inside the Circle K convenience store at 2624 S. First St. in Tucumcari lost its lease and was scheduled to close at the end of the business day on Tuesday, Sept. 6.

Diane Morency, co-owner of the restaurant with her husband Jean for 17 years, said in a telephone interview last week she had the opportunity to look for another location in town but decided to semi-retire instead and concentrate their efforts at their other Subway store in Logan.

“I’m on my feet at the store for a lot of hours, and I’m ready to slow down a bit,” she said.

Morency said Circle K had notified her several years ago it would not renew the lease.

“We had needed to decide whether we were going to build a building, buy a building to move. We decided at our age, we didn’t want to invest any more money or time. We’ve decided to slow down a little bit,” she said.

“It was an opportunity to downsize. With the economy and staffing, we felt like we couldn’t invest any more and come out ahead.”

The couple will have to vacate the space inside the Circle K by Sept. 30.

Morency said they offered their 10 employees a chance to work at the Logan site, but only two accepted that arrangement.

“They’ve decided to look around for other jobs,” she said. “They’re all amazing kids. If they apply at other businesses, I wouldn’t hesitate in hiring them.”

Emails to Circle K asking about the future of the Subway space were not answered. Morency said she doesn’t know what the convenience store chain, which has more than 15,000 locations, has planned.

“Circle K has been a great landlord. I have no qualms with them. It’s business. It wasn’t done maliciously,” she added.

Morency said Subway’s corporate office likely will look for other sites in Tucumcari to open a restaurant.

“It’s a very viable, busy market. The store didn’t close for lack of business,” she said.

Morency said Subway first opened in that location in 1994, and they were its fourth set of owners.

She said anyone interested in opening a Subway in Tucumcari should call her at (505) 980-7925, and she’ll be able to put him or her in touch with the chain’s development agent in New Mexico.

“We had a lot of good employees and a lot of good experiences,” Morency said. “We plan to still give back to the community any way we can. We’re members of the Elks, and I’m a member of Altrusa. It’s a new chapter for us, and hopefully Subway will find a new franchisee.”