Yesway closing Clovis Allsup's headquarters

CLOVIS — The company that purchased the Allsup’s Convenience Stores chain last year is beginning plans to close its corporate office in Clovis, with the first phase to include eliminating 18 positions in late September.

Yesway, which acquired the chain’s 304 locations last October, made the announcement in a letter received by Curry County Commission Chairman Ben McDaniel.

The letter notes the Sept. 26 downsizing is the first phase, and would provide information about additional phases later.

“This action is expected to be permanent,” the letter reads. “Eventually the entire office facility in Clovis will close.”

Yesway is currently based in Iowa, but is establishing a new headquarters in Fort Worth and is also closing offices in Des Moines, Iowa, and Abilene, Texas.

A statement from Yesway Chairman and Chief Executive Office Thomas Trkla notes Allsup’s has 1,981 employees, including 201 based out of the Clovis office.

“We understand moving and closing several of our corporate offices will mean disruption to our teams and their lives,” Trkla said. “We have not made these decisions lightly and we appreciate and value everyone’s contributions.”

He said the layoffs will take place in several phases over the year.

“We are supporting those employees who will not make the move to our new Fort Worth headquarters, many of whom were offered the opportunity to do so and declined due to personal reasons, with career outplacement assistance to help them find their next opportunity,” Trkla said.

Trkla said at the time of the acquisition Yesway intended to always keep a corporate office in Clovis. He did not address questions about those comments, but said Allsup’s will always have a presence in Clovis and in New Mexico, where 118 of its stores are located.

The company plans to establish a satellite office at 700 S. Prince St., where it already has an Allsup’s store. The Thornton Street office is not owned by Yesway.

Yesway, Trkla said, intends to make more than $30 million in investments over the next few years to replace existing small footprint stores with new 5,000 square foot stores. The company said each new store should result in the creation of about 10 new jobs, and noted those plans included Vaughn, Roswell, Alamogordo, Gallup, Hondo and Ruidoso.

Allsup’s was started by Lonnie and Barbara Allsup with one store in 1956 and was one of the nation’s first convenience stores to offer hot foods, self-serve gasoline stations and 24-hour service.

Lonnie Allsup died in 2018 at age 84.