LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Looking for a new place to eat?
The winners of The Great Las Vegas Coffee Shop Giveaway are open for business.
KTNV's Abel Garcia sat down with the owners of Winnie and Ethel's about serving up some tasty treats in the historic Huntridge Center downtown.
What started out as an entry to a competition ended up making two Las Vegas residents' dreams come true.
"You see this happen on TV, but it doesn't happen in real life, and to be in this position is spectacular," said owner Mallory Gott. "Neither of us take it for granted."
Located on Charleston Boulevard and Maryland Parkway in the Huntridge Center, Gott and her business and life partner, Aaron Lee, have opened Winnie and Ethel's Downtown Diner.
In December 2021, Gott and Lee entered a competition called The Great Las Vegas Coffee Shop Giveaway put on by Dapper Companies, a Las Vegas commercial developer.
This past May, they found out they had won!
The prize is a free 3,000-square-foot custom-designed restaurant with everything from furniture to equipment.
"I remember when we got the call that we had won," she said. "It was unbelievable."
Dapper Companies owns the Huntridge Center in Downtown Las Vegas. The owner, J Dapper, says the company, along with several local sponsors, awarded the winners this nearly $1 million diner.
He says he wants to bring more life to his shopping center.
"The Huntridge Shopping Center, after being around for 60 years, lost its pharmacy and diner, and I wanted to bring the diner back," he said.
Gott says the diner's name stems from Aaron's grandmother, Winnie, and Ethel, Mallory's great grandma.
"We wanted it to feel like we were in our grandparents' houses," she said. "It tied it all together for us."
She says the historic Huntridge area inspired them.
"When we saw where the space was going to be located, the 1940s was a no-brainer," Gott said. "That's when this neighborhood came into being in Las Vegas. That is when The Huntridge Theater opened, and it's not an era in our history that gets a lot of recognition."
The diner serves homemade comfort food, like sweet pancakes and various sandwiches.
Gott says she cannot be more thankful for the Las Vegas community for their generosity in helping her and her husband accomplish their goals.
"It is something that we would not have been able to do at this state in our lives without this opportunity," she said. "I think it is an incredible gift that we have been given and a privilege and something that we owe to the community to treat with a lot of dignity and respect."
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