Blue Bell Ready To Open Larger Facility

Blue Bell Creameries is putting down some permanent roots in New Mexico.

Two years after entering the New Mexico market, the Brenham,Texas-based company is opening a full-service, 26,800-square-foot distribution and sales facility on Albuquerque’s West Side, the company announced Monday.

The company purchased a building at 2220 Vista Oriente NW for $1.7 million last July, general sales manager Wayne Hugo said. After a 10-month, $350,000 renovation, the facility is scheduled to open May 15.

The building, which includes office space and a 12,000-square-foot freezer, is a little larger than the typical Blue Bell facility, Hugo said.

The company, known for its fresh, homemade-tasting ice cream, had been leasing a smaller space in Albuquerque.

“The response to Blue Bell in the market has been very enthusiastic, and the population of the area is growing as well. … Now we have opened a much larger facility to keep up with the demand,” branch manager Micheal Reasner said in a news release.

Five additional employees have been hired to work at the new branch location, bringing the total number of Albuquerque staff to 17, he said.

That number could also expand in the future along with distribution of the brand around the state, Hugo said.

“We’re really in the infant stages as far as growth there goes,” he said.

The facility will deliver to stores in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Española, Grants, Milan, Los Lunas, Socorro, Edgewood and other communities in those areas.