Newman's finds a new pond.

Byline: REAL ESTATE By Randi Bjornstad The Register-Guard

Here's good news for those who stand in long lines at Newman's Fish Co.'s fish-and-chips window on Willamette Street in Eugene for batter-fried cod, salmon, halibut, scallops and even the occasional oyster: The wait might get shorter within the next few months.

Dwight Collins, who has owned the 117-year-old fishmongery since 1979, will open a second outlet at 485 Coburg Road, in the northeast corner of the Pavilion shopping center, behind Baja Fresh and next to the Wags! Dog Emporium.

The market at 1545 Willamette St. focuses first on selling fresh fish and related grocery items, and second on the restaurant, but the new, 1,200-square-foot Coburg Road store will reverse the emphasis.

The fish counter will be smaller and the range of prepared foods not quite as extensive, but the lunch and dinner options will be greater, Collins said. "We might expand the menu just a touch more than the fish and chips we have on Willamette Street - maybe we'll add a sandwich and a grilled fish."

He's been mulling over the idea of a north Eugene location for several years. The developers of small commercial enclave, headed by majority owner Rosaria Haugland, "started talking to me when they were first visualizing it," Collins said. "I was interested because the growth we've had in the fish-and-chips part of the business on Willamette Street exceeds our capacity, and Coburg Road seems like a great place to locate. With all the business activity that's going on out there, it's almost scary to think about the possibilities."

By many accounts, including a history of the community on the city of Eugene's Web site, the fish market is one of the oldest continuous businesses in Eugene, dating to 1890 when the Newman family started it. They sold the business in 1964, and Collins purchased it from the second owner in 1979. From its earlier location in the old downtown core area along Broadway, the Newmans moved the fish market to the Willamette Street location around 1962.

Collins tried a second location on Willakenzie Road in the early 1980s, but the economy wasn't right, and he closed the shop a few years later. Eugene wasn't - and still isn't - big enough simply to clone a successful business and guarantee its prosperity, he said.

Nonetheless, the two outlets will have some things in common, in particular a continued emphasis on outdoor dining, testing the mettle of regulars during cold, wet winter weather. There's no indoor seating on Willamette Street, and Collins said the Coburg Road location also will "pretty much be all outdoor seating."

"As long as it's sunny and over about 30 degrees, it's OK, although when it gets over 90, it can be a little hot," Collins said. "Sometimes, I want to go out and pat people on the back when the temperature's in the 40s and it's raining.

He'll "probably add a little heat" at the new location, something he can't do safely on Willamette Street because of limited awning heights, Collins said.

He's a little vague on timing, talking about opening the new restaurant "sometime in the fall."

"We probably have a good two months or more of construction time, and then we have to do staff training," Collins said.

The Willamette Street store has 15 employees, and Newman's probably will add another eight to 10 to serve the Coburg Road location, he said.