Columnist Tom Gorman: More finding that Hill’s concoctions are not your average Joe

Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2005 | 7:26 a.m.

According to the company's Web site, there are 33 Starbucks coffee stores scattered about Las Vegas. But it's an outdated list and there are at least 34. By the time you finish reading this column, there may be 35 or 36.

About 10 days ago, a Starbucks replaced an old Chevron gasoline station at the corner of Flamingo and Sandhill roads.

The strip mall there features a tuxedo shop, some food joints, a bartending school, a women's exercise studio and a National Guard recruiting station.

One of the shopping center's fixtures is a drive-up shack in the parking lot, where Ernest Hill has been selling espresso and other coffee concoctions for eight years.

His is an unpretentious business with a high-end product. A disillusioned law student-turned-real estate broker, Hill followed his heart and love for fine coffee, and -- with family help -- sank $65,000 into his coffee shack. It's called "Nelson's Espresso," for his middle name.

Over the years, his trade has grown with loyal espresso customers spoiled by his choice of a particular roast from northern Italy. "It has body, a flavor that continues beyond the first taste," Hill said of the thick, elegant coffee that comes from it.

Customers who prefer drip coffee are treated to quality green beans from a microroaster in Santa Barbara that produces a dark roast as smooth as it gets.

His store measures just 8 feet by 12 feet. Shelves are crammed with plastic and paper cups, sealed bags of roasted coffee beans, Torani syrups and chocolate, white-chocolate and caramel Ghirardelli sauces.

It is something of an artist's studio, this little coffee shack. He doesn't sell soda or tea or frappuccino, but adheres to core coffee drinks the way Monet stuck to French impressionism.

Unlike Starbucks' fully automated espresso machines, Hill's is a personal, hands-on process, and his customers rhapsodize over the finished drink.

"A well-executed shot of espresso," he said, "is a confection. The sweet, caramelized sugar combined with the bitterness of the roast is something really wonderful."

I haven't heard anyone at Starbucks talk that way.

Hill has made a modest living but more importantly loves what he does, spoiling customers from 6 to 11 a.m. and 1 to 5 p.m. on weekdays, and 7 to noon on weekends.

About a year ago, he learned that Starbucks was coming to his little shopping center. "My initial reaction was fear," he said. "I was afraid how much business they'd take away from me."

His customers were offended by Starbucks' arrival. Lyne Lapham equated it to a big-footing Wal-Mart maneuver.

Another customer, Dan Felix, said Starbucks hit below the belt. "It's one thing to prosper," he said. "But it's another thing to prevent others from prospering, especially whey they don't have your resources."

And so this could be a tale about Starbucks overwhelming a mom-and-pop business, of Ernest Nelson Hill being ground out of business and returning to real estate.

But it's not. Nelson's Espresso, it turns out, has never done better.

"I've lost some customers, but I've gained more," he said. "The moms carrying vans full of kids screaming for frappuccinos are going to Starbucks, and that's fine with me. That's not my market. Frappuccinos take too much time, and I don't want to make my other customers wait."

But serious coffee drinkers who never knew of Nelson's Espresso are now discovering his little shack when they pull into the parking lot for Starbucks.

"They see me, they're curious, they see the line at Starbucks and they come over here, and now they're coming back," he said. "You read about little hardware stores that still do OK even after a Home Depot or Lowe's opens up, because of their quality. Well, that's how it's been with me.

"So far so good," the owner of Nelson's Espresso, next to Starbucks said. "This is going to be OK."