Rising like a phoenix: From India to Eureka, Shawn Bansal creates community

Bhushan “Shawn” Bansal, a 42-year-old native of India, has become a cornerstone of Eureka County, Nevada. From the EZ-Stop to the Urban Cowboy restaurant in Eureka and now the Phoenix Rising store and Bunkhouse Station restaurant in Crescent Valley, Bansal’s journey to rural Nevada is a story he is asked to tell often.

“It’s like living in a big, huge family,” Bansal says of Eureka County. He arrived in October 2021 after a friend from India, Danny Singh, who owned the EZ Stop, asked him to buy the business. At the time, Bansal was driving a semi-truck three times a month from Reno to Florida.

A Career Path Less Traveled

In India, Bansal’s professional life was a series of unexpected turns. Although his father, a doctor, hoped he would take over the family medical practice, Bansal found that medicine was “not my thing.” He later attended law school but realized after two years that it also wasn’t the right fit. However, his academic background was not wasted; he uses the legal knowledge in his business dealings and credits his father for teaching him the basics of business and community service. Bansal’s father was a compassionate doctor who never turned away a patient who couldn’t pay for their medicine. This example of community care would later inspire Bansal’s own approach to business.

Bansal’s journey to the United States began in 2015 when he accompanied his then-wife, who had a full scholarship to study forensic psychology. His first impression of America was a sense of respect he had never experienced before, even in the smallest interactions. “You are treated like you are a living human being,” he recalls, “when you cross the road, all the cars stop for you… Not in India. You don’t get that kind of behavior.”

After a short time in New Mexico, an academic scholarship and teaching position at the University of Nevada, Reno, brought them to Nevada. When his marriage ended, Bansal considered returning to India, where he had grown up with affluence. The thought of going back and living under his father’s name, rather than forging his own path, sparked an epiphany. He told himself, “Do you want to go back to India and live on your dad’s name, or do you want to do something over here and find yourself who you are?” He chose to stay and build his own life.

Finding a Home and a Mission

After getting his green card, Bansal spent time working different jobs to “learn business” and save money. In 2021, when his friend offered to sell him the EZ Stop, Bansal initially said he couldn’t afford it. With owner financing, he took a chance, despite warnings that Eureka was a “redneck town” that wouldn’t accept him. He was undeterred. He and his partner, Lena Kendall, who worked for the previous owner, shared a vision for the store. “It was always Shawn and Lena,” he says, acknowledging her integral role in their success.

Their commitment to the community was evident from the start. In October 2021, they learned that many local miners and ranchers would be alone for Thanksgiving. Bansal and Kendall decided to host a free Thanksgiving dinner. They cooked six turkeys totaling 48 pounds of meat and served 73 people. “It gives me a place in the community’s heart,” Bansal says. This tradition has grown, with the most recent dinner serving 154 people. The couple also started offering free Indian food for the Fourth of July.

Bansal and Kendall’s compassion extends to feeding hungry people, particularly miners between paydays. Kendall says, “We’ve had so many dudes come in, and they’re just hungry. I can’t look at hungry people.” They have run tabs for people until their next paycheck, an act of kindness that has cemented their relationship with the community.

Rising from the Ashes

On April 20, 2023, an electrical fire destroyed the EZ Stop. The community rallied around them, but a complaint to the health department forced them to limit what they sold from the temporary shed that was serving customers from the parking lot. Bansal, angered by the setback, channeled his frustration into a new venture. He immediately bought the Urban Cowboy restaurant, and converted an apartment within it into a convenience store. He chose the name “Phoenix” because, as he explains, “We built everything after the fire. It motivated us to not give up.”

The new EZ Store is now nearing completion. Their expansion also took them to Crescent Valley, where a local encouraged them to open a new business. After some initial reluctance from the previous owner, Bansal and Kendall purchased both the old Bunkhouse and Sam’s Store.

In Crescent Valley, Bansal is committed to serving the community, even at a financial cost. He sells only about 100 gallons of gas a day, and the annual testing for the pumps costs $12,000. He says, “I’m paying from my pocket to run the pumps, but I just don’t want to shut down because it’s something the community needs.”

Kendall shares this commitment, saying, “We really want to help the community prosper. That’s our biggest thing.”