South Carson Jimmy John’s closes; 2nd location remains open

Regular visitors of the 3849 S. Carson St. Jimmy John’s location on Monday were surprised to find the doors closed and a sign thanking them for 12 years of business. But owner Dana Yzurdiaga was out front to encourage them to visit a second location she and her husband Ken have had available since 2014 at 2329 N. Carson St.

The north store will continue to offer everything Jimmy John’s is known for, Yzurdiaga said Monday as customers continued coming up to the doors. She hoped the closure would not keep diners away.

“It’s a beautiful store where the Denny’s is,” she said. “We hope to get some of our customers from here, that they’ll be patient and go there and not throw up their hands and go to the other restaurants (in the area).”

Transitioning staff members who have worked in the southern store was straightforward, she said, with minor transitions in management to help oversee operations in the chain’s Carson City and Reno stores.

“We took our assistant manager here (at South Carson) and moved him (to North Carson) and then we had a manager there (at North Carson) that we promoted to area manager, so she will be working here and going to our stores in Reno,” Yzurdiaga said. “And the gal who ran this store for years, a beautiful, lovely, hardworking woman, will become head of marketing for us.”

The couple who have served as franchisees were able to find a place for all of their employees, some of whom have stayed since they started with Jimmy John’s in high school, she said.

“We didn’t just cut and run,” she said. “We tried to work with what we had. We don’t just get to close this. We found a place for everyone, people who have been with us, people who found houses here. My manager, this was her first job out of high school. She got married and had two kids. We’re very proud of that.”

The South Carson store, which celebrated its grand opening in August 2013 in the Eagle Station Shopping Center, has been a central location for diners and was a quick stop with its drive-through option. But ultimately, Yzurdiaga said, “there’s probably just not room for two Jimmy Johns” in a city the size of Carson.

The Yzurdiagas paid employees competitive wages, and they will keep their medical benefits, she said.

“It’s just the sheer number of (restaurants) in the area,” she said. “We stayed as long as we could. It’s always been tough.”