Dig It Coffee's Third Shop Is Coming to Opportunity Village: How a Job-Training Cafe Went From Closing to Growing in Six Months

by Ryan Rose

What Happened: A Third Location Shows Up in City Records

The news came out in a Sept. 29 Review-Journal story by Johnathan L. Wright about the southwest opening. Near the end, the story noted something new. City of Las Vegas records show a pending business license for Dig It at 5030 W. Rome Blvd. That address belongs to OVintage Boutique and OV Artworks Studio, both part of the Opportunity Village campus in the northwest valley.

A pending license is a paperwork step, not a grand opening. Dig It has not announced a date for the Rome Boulevard shop. Owner and founder Taylor Gardner Chaney has not shared hours, a menu, or a size for it in any public report we could find. So treat this as a strong sign, not a done deal.

Still, the address tells you a lot. Opportunity Village is one of the best-known nonprofits in Southern Nevada. It has served people with intellectual and developmental disabilities since 1954. News 3 Las Vegas reported in August that the group is building a new Northwest Campus near Thom and Rome boulevards, close to North Decatur Boulevard and the 215 Beltway. The plans include a cafe, an OV Artworks Studio gallery and an OVintage boutique. News 3 reported that the cafe and retail spaces were set to soft open for training on Nov. 16, with the full campus opening in early December.

Put those two facts side by side. Opportunity Village is building a cafe at its new northwest campus. Dig It, a coffee shop built around job training for people with disabilities, has a pending license at an address on that same campus. Neither group has said in public that Dig It will run that cafe. But it is a natural fit, and it is the date to watch.

Meanwhile, Dig It's other two shops are open now. The downtown shop is at 100 N. City Parkway, Suite 130, inside the Molasky Corporate Center. The southwest shop is at 8390 W. Windmill Lane, inside The Garden Foundation, a local nonprofit that serves people with disabilities. The southwest shop held its opening celebration on Saturday, Oct. 3.

Interior of the Opportunity Village Northwest Campus under construction on Rome Boulevard in northwest Las Vegas, where a cafe and retail space are planned

Why It Matters to Las Vegas Residents

For northwest families, the first reason is simple. A new local coffee shop is coming to a part of town that keeps adding homes. The Rome Boulevard area sits near Centennial Hills, Aliante and the 215. A lot of newer neighborhoods there have plenty of rooftops and not as many local gathering spots. A coffee shop with a mission gives people a reason to stop, sit and meet their neighbors.

The second reason is bigger. Opportunity Village's new Northwest Campus is a $59 million project on 17.6 acres when you count the housing next door, according to News 3. The campus itself is a 16,500-square-foot building with day programs, job-readiness programs, full nursing care, partner space and an accessible public park. Right next to it, Betty's Village North is adding 90 accessible homes at 6700 Thom Blvd. for about 126 people with and without disabilities. That is a real neighborhood being built around inclusion. A working coffee shop on that campus would give people who live and train there a place to build job skills a short walk from home.

The third reason is about what happens after school. For many Clark County families who have a child with a disability, the hard question is what comes after graduation. Daily Coffee News reported in 2022 that Dig It's training program was built by The Garden Foundation with Touro University's occupational therapy department. Trainees start with general job skills, like building a resume and practicing for interviews. Then they move into food and beverage training. Every new shop means more real shifts with real customers. That is the kind of practice you cannot get in a classroom.

Finally, this matters as a small business story. Dig It nearly lost its footing this spring. Its comeback shows that a local business can survive a bad location problem if it moves fast and has a loyal crowd behind it. When you spend your coffee money at a place like this, you help decide what kind of businesses stay open in your part of town.

Background and History: The Growth Timeline

Dig It did not start as a storefront. Daily Coffee News reported that the business began with a coffee cart at The Garden Foundation's office building. After it got an espresso machine, it moved to farmers markets and pop-up events. Gardner Chaney started the business with people like her sister Lindsay, who has Down syndrome, in mind.

In the fall of 2022, Dig It opened its first permanent shop at 1300 S. Casino Center Blvd., Suite 110, on the ground floor of the ShareDowntown apartment building in the Arts District. Daily Coffee News reported at the time that the shop employed eight people with disabilities. The space was bright and fun, with neon colors, a pink ceiling, plants and disco balls. In that 2022 interview, Gardner Chaney remembered the early crowds: "We had a line down the street."

Barista making pour-over coffee at a cafe counter, the kind of hands-on skill Dig It Coffee trainees learn on the job

Then things got hard. On March 31, FOX5 reported that the shop would close its Arts District spot, with April 26 as the last day. Gardner Chaney pointed to construction and parking. FOX5 reported that a city storm drain project had cut parking between Las Vegas Boulevard and Commerce Street, and that parking rates had climbed to $2 to $4 an hour. She told FOX5 she understood the city's redevelopment plans, but said the conditions made it "impossible to survive" for small business owners trying to keep the neighborhood alive. The city told FOX5 that a 500-space parking garage was under construction and set to open in summer 2026.

Dig It did not stay gone. On April 8, the Review-Journal reported that the shop had found a new home on the first floor of the Molasky Corporate Center at 100 N. City Parkway, next to Jason's Deli. Gardner Chaney said the new space would let the shop "retain some of our amazing regulars without facing the same construction challenges." The Review-Journal later reported that the shop reopened there in June.

So here is the full path. A cart at a nonprofit office. Pop-ups and farmers markets. A first storefront in the Arts District in 2022. A tough exit this spring. A downtown reopening in June. A southwest shop inside The Garden Foundation in October. And a pending third shop at Opportunity Village in the northwest. Each step ties the business to a group that already serves people with disabilities. That pattern is the real story. Dig It grows by partnering with places that share its mission.

An artist in the Opportunity Village OV Artworks Studio program painting a canvas, part of the nonprofit whose northwest Las Vegas campus may host Dig It Coffee's third shop

A Map of Three Shops Across the Valley

If the Rome Boulevard shop opens, Dig It will cover three very different parts of Las Vegas. Each one serves a different kind of customer, and that spread is part of what makes the model work.

Downtown, 100 N. City Parkway, Suite 130: Inside the Molasky Corporate Center. This is the office-worker shop. It is built around weekday mornings, lunch breaks and the regulars who followed the shop from the Arts District.
Southwest, 8390 W. Windmill Lane: Inside The Garden Foundation, the nonprofit where Dig It first started as a coffee cart. This is the neighborhood shop for the southwest valley, close to Spring Valley, Mountains Edge and the neighborhoods off the 215.
Northwest, 5030 W. Rome Blvd. (pending): On the Opportunity Village campus near Thom Boulevard, North Decatur Boulevard and the 215. This would be the shop for Centennial Hills and the growing neighborhoods around it.

Notice that two of the three shops sit inside nonprofits that already run programs for people with disabilities. That setup makes sense. The nonprofit brings trainees, coaches and support. The coffee shop brings real customers, real orders and real paychecks. Each side makes the other stronger. It also means the shops are less exposed to the kind of street-level problems, like roadwork and paid parking, that hurt the first storefront.

For customers, the spread means a Dig It stop is now possible on a much wider range of daily drives. Someone who lives in the southwest and works downtown could visit both in the same week. Once the northwest shop opens, a big share of the valley will be within a short drive of one.

What Happens Next

The key date to watch is Nov. 16. That is when News 3 reported the cafe and retail spaces at Opportunity Village's Northwest Campus were set to soft open for training. A soft open for training usually means a quiet start, with staff learning the ropes before the public shows up in big numbers. The full campus was set to open in early December, and the Betty's Village North homes were set to open in November, according to News 3.

Before any of that, the business license has to clear. Pending licenses can take a few weeks or longer, and building work can push dates back. Opening dates for new buildings slip all the time. If the timeline moves, that is normal. We will be watching city records and Dig It's own channels for a confirmed date.

There are a few open questions. Will the Rome Boulevard shop have the full menu, or a smaller one? Will it keep regular public hours, or follow the campus schedule? Will trainees from Opportunity Village programs work there? None of that has been announced yet. The best place to watch for answers is Dig It's Instagram at @digitcoffeeco and its website, digitcoffeeco.com. Opportunity Village also posts updates on its website and social pages.

Ryan's Take

I talk with buyers about the northwest valley all the time, and the question I hear most is, "What is there to do out there?" Centennial Hills and the areas around the 215 have great homes, newer schools and easy freeway access. What they have needed is more local places that feel like they belong to the neighborhood. A coffee shop on the Opportunity Village campus, with a public park next to it, is exactly that kind of place. It gives people a reason to linger, and that is what turns a group of subdivisions into a community.

I also like what this says about the long game. A $59 million nonprofit campus with 90 accessible homes next door is a serious, permanent investment in that part of town. Projects like that do not come and go. When I help someone pick a neighborhood, I look at what is being built nearby, not just what is already there. A campus that brings jobs, programs, a park and a cafe is a good sign for the area. And the comeback story here is one I respect. Losing a storefront to roadwork and parking costs, then reopening in three months and expanding twice, takes real grit.

Bright neighborhood coffee shop counter with hanging lights and shelves, the kind of local gathering spot growing in northwest Las Vegas

What You Can Do

The easiest step is to visit one of the two shops that are open now. If you live in the southwest, stop by 8390 W. Windmill Lane inside The Garden Foundation. If you work downtown, the City Parkway shop in the Molasky Corporate Center is an easy morning or lunch stop. Check current hours on digitcoffeeco.com or @digitcoffeeco before you go, since the Review-Journal did not list them. When you visit, be patient and kind at the counter. Real customers are a big part of the training.

If you live in the northwest, follow Dig It and Opportunity Village online so you hear about the Rome Boulevard opening first. You can also support Opportunity Village now. OV Artworks Studio sells one-of-a-kind art, greeting cards and jewelry made by artists in its programs, and it is getting a gallery on the new campus. The group also runs thrift stores around the valley.

If someone in your family could use job training or life skills programs, reach out to The Garden Foundation or Opportunity Village. Both serve people with disabilities in Southern Nevada, and both are good places to start asking questions. And if you have a favorite local spot in your neighborhood, tell people about it. Small businesses grow by word of mouth more than anything else.

Have questions about how this affects your home or neighborhood? Reach out to Ryan Rose or text/call 702-747-5921 anytime.

Ryan Rose | Real Broker, LLC | 702-747-5921 | ryan@rosehomeslv.com | rosehomeslv.com