Meet The 17-Year-Old Taking The Reins At Goldcoast Subs

GREENFIELD, WI — A Greenfield High School underclassman took on a gig several years ago at Goldcoast Subs, the sub-in-a-bag eatery on West Layton Avenue. It was his first job, he said.

Josh Bizub is now a senior at his school, and by the end of 2022, he's expecting to own the Greenfield shop, as well as the West Allis location.

Rodney Waters, who started the shops in 1994, said it's a relief he'll be handing them off to 17-year-old Bizub.

"If Josh wouldn't have done it, if nobody else would have come after it, we were prepared just to walk away," Waters said.

If that were the case, Waters and Bizub agree a lot of people would have probably been disappointed to see the shop go.

The expected handoff comes after a long road for the business, affected by everything from the Great Recession to the Layton Avenue rebuilding and the coronavirus pandemic. Waters says it's come time for him and his wife, Victoria Waters, to retire.

"You get to a point where after those many years, you want to sit back and say, 'Oh, it's time to relax, take a walk in the park,' you know, go buy a puppy. Just enjoy the last remaining years we have," Waters said.

The Goldcoast Subs Experience

When working, Bizub spends much of his time at the Greenfield Goldcoast shop, at 4263 West Layton Avenue.

Yellow letters mounted against the wooden facade of the building read "Gold Coast Subs." As you enter, assorted paintings, illustrations and license plates glimpse through the leaves of a small jungle arranged around the edges of the store.

A banana tree with budding fruit rests near the front door, and a large yellow menu display confronts you as you walk in with sandwich names like "Golddust," "The Heffer," and "It's Me Charlie!"

The front counter has been draped in a clear tarp. A hole is cut out where the sandwiches and money exchange hands.

Bizub explains the shop usually makes around 100 sandwiches per day. It's the uniqueness of the subs that draws people in, he says.

Waters attributes the shop's allure to well-blended seasonings, special to each sub. The subs are served in a bag, and Waters suggests you make use of it when you're eating the sandwich, in case any oil drops off.

A key to the business is the camaraderie of the customers who visit it, Waters and Bizub explained to Patch.

Waters pointed toward one recent case, where a woman ordered subs and had them shipped to Montana, or another customer who he says has been coming in for a tuna sub nearly every week after she tried one 20 years ago.

A Teen Makes Plans For Post-High School

Bizub said he would have never expected he was going to be taking over ownership of Goldcoast from Waters when he first started working at the place, he was just looking for something useful to do at the time. He and his sister talked about it, he said, and at first, he considered just calling McDonald's to see if they had an opening.

He filled out an application at Goldcoast after a friend of a parent told him the place was looking for help.

The idea to buy the shop came later, at a time when many his age are making plans for jobs or being pushed to go to college.

As Bizub was working at the store, Waters started floating the idea of selling the store to someone. When it finally went up for sale, Bizub said he wondered what he was going to do, "because I couldn't see myself working here without Rod."

Someone else working at the store had expressed interest in buying, but things fell through.

"So then I was like, well, if he's not going to, there's nothing really stopping me from doing it," Bizub said. He kept the idea to himself for a bit, thinking it over and wondering what people would think. He presented the idea to his parents, and he said he was overwhelmed by support from his family for the idea.

"So I took that idea to Rod and of course Rod really liked that idea that one of the employees was going to take it over rather than someone who was walking in and purchasing it," Bizub said.

Rather than someone walking in and changing things, too, Waters pointed out. "Keeping it what the people want. As people grow up, they keep coming back to the same thing because they miss that stuff."

Bizub said the opportunity to buy the sub shop was a case of him being in the right place at the right time. Instead of going to college, he says he would rather that money go toward the shop.

He said choosing what to do after high school is something a lot of people struggle with.

"It's hard to make that exact decision without knowing what you want to do in life. I was just presented with this opportunity to do something I wanted to instead of spending four, five, six, more years in a classroom. I have the opportunity to get out and make something of myself without waiting for that extra time period."

Learning To Run The Store

Waters says Bizub has oftentimes been at the store "sunup to sundown," helping out and learning.

"He was always wanting to learn more and more and more," Waters said, "He just had a real strong interest in getting the business."

"It's the only way you're gonna experience as an owner, what it takes to run, to get supplies before the store opens, get the store ready to get it open, start taking care of customers, and then realize in the middle of the day, you got to make another run to get something else because it wasn't available in the morning," Waters explained.

"And all these different things that creep up, and the things that long down the road, find out that's going to creep up and you just learn to handle those things," he added.

Bizub says one of the main things he's learned from his time at the store is to stick with things.

"You don't just give up and throw your hands up and say 'I'm done,'" Bizub said. "There's always a solution to the problem."

Bizub said taking control of the store is a big step coming out of high school, but it isn't something he isn't afraid of. And in case of any issues arising where he may need a hand, Waters is only a phone call away.

The Coronavirus Pandemic Hits

When the pandemic began in 2020, the store had to temporarily close.

"Honestly, I thought that was the last time I was ever going to have to lock that front door because I wasn't sure we were going to make it out," Bizub said.

Bizub transitioned to online school. Eventually, the store re-opened, and for a time, business was some of the best Waters and Bizub said they've seen. They had put a sign up outside, a play on the typical "Help Wanted" sign you may see outside of storefronts.

The large yellow banner displays "Help!!! Customers Wanted"

"I was amazed we had the amount of support from everybody that we did," Bizub said.

As he worked through online school, Bizub continued to work at the shop through the pandemic, and at one point, Bizub said he spoke to his high school counselors, who were able to work out an apprenticeship through Thomas Hermann, who runs a program in Milwaukee County's southern communities for high school students at various school districts.

The apprenticeship counted for high school credit, helping Bizub toward eventual graduation as he learns more about the ins and outs of the sub shop in anticipation of running it.

What's Next For Waters

Waters said he plans on retiring, possibly to up north, with his wife, who is from Michigan's Upper Peninsula. He's a musician, and he said he hopes to make a small studio wherever he ends up. He said he plans on sending tapes down to a friend of his in Nashville.

When it's been slow, Bizub, who also plays the guitar, said he's occasionally brought his guitar in, and he and Waters have played together at the store when it's slow.