by Beth Slater
Staff Writer
Gene’s Sandwich Shop, a four-decade downtown fixture, is closing for good after lunch on Friday.
Customers in the shop Thursday afternoon shared sadness at the departure. Those in the restaurant said they didn’t yet know where they would eat their future midday meals.
“I’m sad. Just about every day [we come here]. We might miss one day a week. We haven’t really decided [where to go now],” said Cheryl Young.
Young said she started patronizing Gene’s when she was in the 12th grade. Most of the customers on Thursday were 20 and 30-year regulars.
The restaurant was originally in a building on the southeast corner of Adams and Laura streets. Owner Vangi McKnight said the restaurant moved when the city demolished the building to make a parking lot.
Victor Vickers first ate at Gene’s when it was at the Laura Street location. He remembered seeing a line of people extend through the front door.
“I stood in line and I tried the food. The food is great,” he said, but he was more impressed with McKnight. “She could remember the order without writing anything down, and did not ring it up until you were done and remembered everything you ordered.
“I love the warmth, hospitality, spirit of God, the customers. Everything here is great,” continued Vickers.
Someone recommended Gene’s to Shirley Nesmyth, a City employee and 30-year regular, and she’s been coming back ever since.
“Best food downtown, always,” said Nesmyth. “Where will I go? It’s hard to say. I miss them already.”
McKnight said that closing a restaurant as popular as Gene’s was a tough decision.
“I’ve been doing this for 34 years; it’s time for a change. I started with my father at 14, and I never had a chance to do what I want. Now it’s my time,” she said.
McKnight said she will start by working at her church and then plans to complete her college degree.
McKnight said she won’t stay away from the restaurant business for too long, though.
“I’m not gone forever. I’m coming back, but not downtown. Not as Gene’s but as Ms. V’s, in Cecil Field or Dunn Avenue,” she said.
McKnight said she’ll miss her customers the most. She said the people are why she kept the shop open as long as she did.
“That’s what I’ll miss the most, the people. There are so many customers I won’t be able to see, who don’t know I’m closing,” she said. “I’d like to thank them for their business, prayers and words of encouragement. There are so many places they could go and they came here.”