If you're like me and love Wyoming based West-Mex franchise, Taco John's, you may have noticed driving down C.Y. Avenue in Casper looks different. The Taco John's that has been a fixture at 766 C.Y. Ave since the 1970's is no longer there.

Yep, if you haven't driven by there in the last few days, you're going to shocked the next time you do swing that way.

The good news is that all of the other Casper Taco John's locations, which are operated by longtime Taco John's franchisees Lori, Daryl and Lindsay Stilwell (under the family's 'Lodar Incorporated'), remain open and are handling the overflow from the C.Y. closing perfectly.

Lindsay Stilwell was very clear and open about the future of Taco John's in Casper:

We're not selling out and we're not closing the other stores. The closure of the C.Y. location, is strictly a way for us to focus on the Casper community and our four other locations.

The Stilwell family have been the Taco John's franchisees for 40 years and Lindsay continued:

Our family has lots of history in the C.Y. store, I even worked at that store and began there in the 90's.

Originally the building was a K.F.C. location, and the Taco John's was in the smaller building next to it. We then made the move into the bigger building and have been there ever since.

 

As a member of the Taco John's family, we're very happy with the loyalty of the customers and invite all the C.Y. customers to visit the Plaza Dr location, near the west site Walmart.

Even thought the Taco John's signs have been removed from the C.Y. building, and it looks quite different, the store's employees remain working with the company. For now they'll helping with the process of closing and moving out of the building. Once everything is out, the team will be placed at one of the other 4 Casper locations to ease the stress of the overflow from the closed store.

The family wants to stop the rumors before they get started.

You may be hearing rumors or different reasons why they chose to close the C.Y. store, and it's not what you think. Again, they're not going out of business and they're not in trouble.

Lindsay told us real reason behind the closure and what the future looks like:

Taco John's corporate has instructed all stores to be remodeled by over the next couple of years and this store would've been the toughest for us to get done.

 

We're excited about our future in Casper and about putting facelifts on all the buildings.

 

Taco John's will remained focused on Casper and are excited to start the remodeling process this fall, with the Mills location, which will remain open during the remodel.

Lindsay also mentioned, that not only are they focused on making the current Casper Taco John's stores the best they can be, but they will actually begin looking for a new location for a store in the next couple years.

So if you were wondering, Taco John's is alive and thriving in the Casper area. The future is looking VERY bright for The Stilwell family and the four remaining Taco John's locations.

Never fear, you can still get your Taco John's fix at one of these great Casper locations:

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