Retail roundup: Slim Chickens opens first ABQ location

The owner of Albuquerque’s latest chicken joint says that people are making like chickens and crossing the road for a bite to eat.

Slim Chickens officially opened the door to its first Albuquerque location Jan. 8th.

The fast food joint is appropriately named, as it has a chicken-centered menu including chicken tenders, wings and sandwiches. It also carries a long list of dipping sauces.

Before this store opened, avid chicken lovers had to drive to chain’s Rio Rancho location to get a fixin’ for the restaurant, which has locations across the country and international franchises.

“I have plans to open several in New Mexico” said franchise owner Dennis Ekstrom. “I love the market, love the area.”

The Montgomery location was originally set to open in October but was delayed.

“It was a huge delay due to permitting issues and electrical problems. We put the restaurant off a little but because I did not want to open back to back, but the permits took much longer than I expected” Ekstrom said.

He said many customers braved the frigid January weather for the store’s first day.

“We had a great opening day. There is not a worse time to open but even with that we expect our business will grow,” he said. “The first week of January is always a little rough.”

But despite the new chicken restaurant, Albuquerque lost some restaurants.

• Sol Market: A staple in the Barelas community, Sol Supermarket, permanently shut down after the holiday season. The local market was known for its low prices and positive workers.
• Kamikaze Kitchen: After four years in business, Kamikaze Kitchen is closing up its brick and mortar restaurant. This restaurant was originally a food truck that had found itself a home on Wyoming Blvd. Kamikaze will go back to its roots of being a food truck, and fans can find the food truck’s location on Kamikaze Kitchen’s social media pages.