The Española Del Taco location is officially closed as of April 27 and city leaders are in disagreement over what caused it.
It’s the most recent in a series of business closures in the city: Rue 21, Family Dollar near Center Market, and the Shoe Dept. all shut down in the last several months.
Española Mayor John Ramon Vigil attributes it to the nationwide trend of restaurant and retail business closures, while District 4 City Councilor Sam LeDoux places the blame on crime.
The closure came just four days after the release of an April 24 press release from Box Inc., the parent company of Jack in the Box and Del Taco, outlining the anticipated closure of 150 to 200 Jack in the Box restaurants nationwide.
According to the press release, the company’s preliminary second quarter financial results ending April 13 showed six anticipated Del Taco restaurant openings and four closures. The Española location was closed 14 days after the end of the quarter.
“All that was communicated to all of us at the city was the decision from Jack in the Box,” Vigil said in a telephone interview. “If Councilor LeDoux has inside information directly from Jack in the Box, I surely would like to hear it.”
In a statement on the city’s Facebook page, the decision for the closure was “made by its parent company, Jack in the Box, due to underperformance and broader corporate considerations.”
“The City’s Office of Community Development will be working diligently to identify new opportunities for this Riverside Drive business frontage,” the social media statement said. “We remain committed to supporting economic growth and bringing new business ventures to our community.”
Vigil said closures like Del Taco, and last year’s closure of Rue 21 and Family Dollar, are decisions impacting multiple locations across all parts of the county, not just in Española.
Rue 21 planned to close all of its 540 locations after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2024, according to a May 2024 Reuters’ article. Dollar Tree, which owns Family Dollar, announced plans to close 600 of its locations in 2024, according to a March 2025 article in Fast Company.
LeDoux said it will be difficult to get new businesses into these locations without addressing the crime rate in the city.
“Honestly, Del Taco is a symptom of an overarching issue with crime,” he said in a telephone interview. We’ve had a lot of difficulty trying to recruit new franchises to come to Española and the first thing they do is point to our crime rate and income.”
LeDoux said that one only has to look at the police blotter and call logs to see that there are many police phone calls to the areas surrounding Del Taco, citing the number of calls to the nearby Denny’s and Champion Xpress Carwash.
Vigil said the city is attempting to get new retailers in empty locations, but this has been a struggle due to many businesses wanting to get into locations that can be built to suit their needs.
Companies are not interested in owning property and taking on those facility expenses, Vigil said, and many of the available spaces are smaller than many realtors want to use.
LeDoux also questioned the city’s approach of placing the blame on company’s for their closure, instead of taking responsibility for the failure to address crime.
“I don’t know if it inspires confidence in potential investors to know the city will lay the blame on them for potential failures,” LeDoux said.