Richie B’s Pizza relocating to Albuquerque's West Side

Chuck Ruiz has known he wanted to own a pizza shop since he was 15.

That dream came true in 2019 when he purchased Richie B’s Pizza, Subs & Salads — an eatery that local businessman Preston Smith launched four years prior. In Ruiz’s search for the right shop, it was the size of the pizzas at Richie B’s that sealed the deal.

“When it comes to making pizza, I fell in love with tossing the dough and doing tricks with the dough. In order to do that, naturally, the dough stretches and gets large,” Ruiz said. “When I went over to Richie B’s to consider purchasing it, the thing that I loved first off was that the pizzas were really big, so I could toss the dough in the air, stretch it and do what I love.”

Ruiz has been tossing Richie B’s pies ever since — and now, the business is entering a new chapter: relocating from the Louisiana Plaza off Montgomery Boulevard to the West Side.

The Montgomery location will permanently close March 22 as Ruiz directs his attention toward reopening at 2220 Unser NW, he said. He’s aiming for an April 15 grand opening, coinciding with the anniversary of his acquiring Richie B’s.

The need for more space and a more customizable shop is fueling the move, Ruiz said.

“Our equipment is oversized for that (Montgomery) location … and I don’t have a walk-in cooler, so we’re really short on refrigeration and storage,” he said. “We’ve just outgrown it overall.”

Ruiz had been looking for a new space for years before leasing the West Side spot in 2024. At the time, the site was an empty dirt lot awaiting new construction.

Now, it’s a 10,421-square-foot commercial center — dubbed Unser Shops — that currently spans two buildings with a total of four units, according to Vanessa Smokov, senior leasing representative for Peterson Properties, the property’s developer and owner.

Construction on the property began in early 2025 and finished at the end of the year — but there are still pad sites available for future development, Smokov said.

Bosque Brewing Co. was leasing a major portion of the center before it closed all its taprooms in December, leaving 5,831 square feet and a large patio available to lease. No one has snagged the space yet but it has received “a lot of interest,” Smokov said. The property is also home to a smoke shop, a dispensary — and soon, Richie B’s.

“Richie B’s is a well-established restaurant in the Albuquerque market with a strong and active social media presence that helps drive consistent customer traffic,” Smokov said. “Their presence in the center will provide a solid foundation for the tenant mix, attract patrons to the property and increase overall interest from prospective tenants.”

Peterson Properties delivered the unit to Ruiz at the start of this month, allowing him to install his own flooring, paint and a bartop. With the extra space, Ruiz expects to double the business’ staffing, which currently stands at eight employees.

“I’m excited for it,” he said.

Getting to this point was a hard-fought journey, the owner said, adding it wasn’t easy acquiring a new business right around the time that the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Tapping into his experience growing up in and bussing tables at a restaurant owned by his mother and aunt, the pizza dream persevered.

“It means everything to me to see this dream of mine survive. When I started, there was a lot of fear of whether or not we were going to make it. And then running a restaurant, as we’ve seen in our industry with the restaurants that are closing, it’s very difficult,” Ruiz said. “So making it to expansion — that is just beyond what I ever thought was going to be possible.”

Ruiz doesn’t plan to stop at the West Side. Once that location finds its footing, he plans to establish a second location in the Northeast Heights before the end of this year.

“I want to find that space and be able to move on it, so that’s the goal,” Ruiz said.

Kylie Garcia covers retail and real estate for the Journal. You can reach her at kgarcia@abqjournal.com.