Oven-Fresh Internet
Glenn's Pastries offering free access to computer users

Evangeline Livingston, left, and her daughter, Mercedes Touchine, catch up on news about Hurricaine Rita on the Internet at Glenn's Bakery Saturday afternoon. Glenn's now offers free wireless high-speed Internet and will extend its hours to 9 p.m. beginning Oct. 1. [Photo by Jeff Jones/Independent]

By Bill Donovan
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Glenn's Pastries is now state of the art.

Rick Chavez, who took over as manager of the bakery/restaurant three months ago, installed internet wireless in the facility to allow customers to surf the net as they sample his wares.

The free service, he said, hasn't been available in this area before and already has become every popular with the donut and sandwich crowd that has been loyal customers of the establishment.

"We already have half a dozen people coming in every day to use the service," Chavez said.

Customers have to furnish their own laptops, but Chavez said he places no time limits on how long someone can stay, although that may be determined more by how long a battery lasts than anything else.

Because the establishment only has a few tables, he said the only time restriction may occur during busy times such as lunch when he may ask Internet surfers to share a table or take a break so he can get all of his customers served.

The establishment is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year after being started by Glenn Sinclair as a bakery. Sinclair sold the business to Chavez's parents, Dick and Rosemary Chavez, in 1980, and Chavez said he can remember starting to work there when he was 13 years old.

But Internet surfing isn't the only change he plans to make, he said.

Now open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Chavez said he plans to start staying open until 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. after the first or second week in October,

The crew there will be serving everything on the menu, including hot dogs, throughout the day as well as preparing fresh pastries.

He said he is looking at ways to better serve his customers and meet the demands of a changing business world.

That's what happened some 20 years ago when his parents decided to branch out and start serving sandwiches, he said, because of the competition in the bakery business from Wal-Mart and the supermarkets.

"Now the restaurant brings in about half of the sales daily," he said.