New pool store opening in time for warm weather

• Just in time for summer, Timberline Pools and Spas Inc. is opening its new retail store at 3610 Challenger Way in Carson City.

The business, which offers a range of services and products from water testing and pool supplies to construction, is the brainchild of partners Dave Priess and local cardiologist Dr. Anthony Field.

Priess, who moved here from Phoenix five years ago, has been in the pool business for 25 years. He said Field has proven to be an enthusiastic partner. The two started the business last fall.

"He shows up at the jobs and wants to know what's going on," Priess said. "This is a fun business. I think maybe it breaks the monotony of medicine for him."

Field said this is his first business venture outside of medicine and it's a little like Medicare reimbursement. He doesn't feel he has a lot of control. He called the partnership an "interesting marriage."

"It's a real challenge, but the challenge is the fun part," he said.

Right now, the challenges include quality work in a timely fashion, and meeting those financial goals.

"It hasn't been easy," Field said.

Priess said business is good.

"I worked for another swimming pool company in Carson City for awhile to see if there was a market for this business here," he said. "Our area has long been in need of a professional pool builder, someone who knows the industry."

The new store is located at the east end of Hot Springs Road, near the Carson City Airport. For information, call 885-9200.

• Construction on Carson City's new Wal-Mart store in north Carson City is expected to start late this summer or early fall, according to company spokeswoman Amy Hill.

"It looks like they're planning to go out to bid this summer," she said. "After that, it will take four to five weeks to start construction."

Work on the supercenter is expected to take 10 to 12 months from start to finish and those projections have not changed much since Wal-Mart purchased the property last December, Hill said.

Located on the southeast corner of Hot Springs Road and College Parkway near the proposed freeway interchange, the site includes 20 of the 57 acres at the location. The store will include 36 general-merchandise departments and a full-service grocery.

Skirted by a residential subdivision and a vacant lot, the project plans include architectural treatments on all sides of the building. Using the Sierra Nevada theme, these treatments will reflect an "alpine marketplace" with variations in wall and roof panes designed to blend with the aesthetics of the surrounding area.

• The U.S. economy has weathered the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, and according to figures compiled by the U.S. Small Business Administration, small business is responsible.

Nevada contributed 11,426 new jobs to the economy in 2001, at the same time big business shed 3,482 jobs.

Nationally, small business generated 100 percent of all jobs that year.

For at least the past 20 years, small businesses, which make up 99 percent of all business in the country, have generated two-thirds to three-quarters of all new jobs.

The Small Business Administration defines a small business as firms with 500 or fewer employees, but the figure can be misleading.

Three-fourths of all U.S. businesses have no payroll, most of them made up of self-employed people operating unincorporated businesses. The biggest group in the remaining quarter is the 48 percent with one to four employees.

All figures were compiled by the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy.

Susie Vasquez is the business reporter for the Nevada Appeal. Contact her at vasquez@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.