By Amanda Raymond

amanda.raymond@salisburypost.com

Pancho Villa’s Mexican Restaurant is moving across the street.

After 12 years at its current location at 1517 E. Innes St., the restaurant is moving to 1510 Stokes Ferry Rd.

Juan Santiago, the owner of Pancho Villa’s, said the new building will be about the same size as the current one.

The restaurant will close at its current location on Jan. 21 and hopes to reopen at its Stokes Ferry Road location in early February. Santiago said they have already started working to get the new location ready.

“We don’t want to be closed for longer,” Santiago said.

Almost everything at the new location will be new, including a new bar, bathrooms and furniture.

Santiago said the current building has already been sold to a new tenant, but he did not know who that tenant would be. The owner of the current building had been looking for someone to buy the property for about eight years.

Santiago said the costs of constantly repairing the old building was getting to be too much, so it was better for him to just move into a new building.

Those who enjoy the festive décor of Pancho Villa’s will not have to worry; Santiago said he hopes to have the same wall murals of Mexican people and places and other decorative items in the new building.

“People love it. People have been asking me the same question, if we’re going to do the same (paintings on the walls). Yeah, of course,” Santiago said.

Santiago, originally from Mexico, worked at other Mexican restaurants and even Chick-fil-A before opening his own restaurant. His first location seated 75 people. Eight months later, Santiago was ready to move into his current building, which seats 336.

Santiago said customers can look forward to new menu items and the same great taste.

“People like our food. People like how we cook,” Santiago said. “We have a different flavor than the other (restaurants).”

There will be a grand re-opening ceremony for the new location once Santiago knows exactly when the re-opening will be. He said he hopes to hire a mariachi band and make the event into a “big fiesta.”

“We hope people will still come to eat with us,” Santiago said. “We’re excited and ready to jump on it.”

Contact reporter Amanda Raymond at 704-797-4222.