New owners to revitalize coffee house

In January Melissa Townsend and her husband, Ron Griffin, were in Reno on a business trip but Townsend had grown tired of her role with Attraction Services Company, a Valencia, Calif. theme and large special effects company, and was looking for something different.

So when the couple returned home Townsend conducted a Google search for Reno coffee shops, and a few months later the couple purchased Walden's Coffee House at Mayberry Drive and McCarran Boulevard in west Reno.

It will be Townsend's first foray into food service. Walden's serves breakfast and lunch.

"I have never even worked at a restaurant, but I have loads of business experience, and I have a great staff that knows how to run this place," she says.

Townsend and Griffin are owners of Attraction Services Company, which has more than 60 employees. Townsend had been working in Singapore helping Attraction Services Company establish a new overseas office. She'll oversee a staff of four full-time employees and four part-timers at Walden's.

The couple completed purchase of the popular coffee house on March 3. Kathy Wilson of BTI Group Mergers & Acquisitions brokered the sale with former owners Mark Trujillo and Valerie Blanchard.

The couple has spent the past few weeks adding polish and shine to the establishment and eventually hopes to resume live entertainment performances at the coffee house.

"We would like to bring Walden's back to its former glory," she says. "Walden's is an establishment here in Reno, and we have a huge following of regulars. We just like the whole aura of Walden's. It is just a great place."