Couple takes calculated risks to expand
By Ken Alltucker
Coleen Goodwin's life revolves around pizzas and babies.
As Ely's only midwife, she's up to her elbows in newborns. Otherwise, she can be found next door at Shy Simon's Pizza, rolling dough and spreading tomato sauce for a Miners Pie or a Sweet Simon pizza. It's a hectic schedule, and that's what Goodwin, a mother of eight, likes.
But she figures deliveries - pizzas and babies - could slow in coming months, jeopardizing Shy Simon's, a business she and her husband, Brent, established five years ago. The town's economy is suddenly unstable with the June closing of Broken Hill Proprietary's Robinson Mine, displacing 433 mostly high-wage jobs.
Rather than rely on the ups and downs of Ely alone, the Goodwins are opening a second pizza shop near Reno on Vista Boulevard in Spanish Springs, an area with more bulldozers than restaurants.
"We're looking to Sparks to keep things going," Goodwin said of the new store, scheduled to open in early October. "Our money is on the line with this business. It means everything to us."
The Goodwins are seeking to build the same type of loyal customer base that they have in Ely.
Although they say they don't expect the original store will wither away, they believe some Ely families will eat out less often as hardships hit home.
The Goodwins look around their town and know things must change for the place to survive.
"We need to no longer have such a serious dependence on the mining industry," Coleen Goodwin said. "We need a base and we need to bring in industry ... We should develop tourism. This is a great place for retreats."
Brent Goodwin said the surrounding Great Basin National Park is a natural lure - a great place for hunting and fishing away from the crowds in Colorado.
The Goodwins' expansion is a risk. They don't have much extra cash for advertising and other business essentials. In Spanish Springs, they'll rely on word of mouth, as they've done in Ely.
Brent and Coleen Goodwin say they plan to travel back and forth between the two stores. Their son, Stephen, will oversee the day-to-day operations of the Spanish Springs restaurant, and a family friend will manage the Ely pizza place.
Opening a new store when the other one could face a downturn is a risk, they agree.
"It's a calculated risk," Coleen Goodwin said. "To survive, you have to take a chance sometimes."
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL