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After more than 40 years in Martin County, 'Bob's Gourmet Deli' set to close up shop

The reaction has been totally unexpected
Posted at 5:38 PM, Mar 17, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-17 20:50:03-04

How do you know you're a fixture in a community?

Let David Farrell tell you. “At one point we had a girl working for us, got pregnant,” he says. “She left had the baby, and 16 years later her baby worked for us.”

That’s why it's so hard to say goodbye

“Very bittersweet,” Farrell says, choking back tears.

After 40 plus years his shop, ‘Bob's Gourmet Deli,'  is closing.

But why?

In an age where big business is always forcing the little guy out, David says he's leaving on his terms.

“I’ve been doing it since I was 12, and it's time,” David says. “I want to do a little traveling, get away, and just live life for a little bit.”

 The reaction, David says, has been totally unexpected. “We gave everybody a good product at fair price and that was what we were supposed to do. We just had no idea we impacted so many lives.”

Customers tell us that’s because among the signs and fixtures hanging here, unchanged from the 1970s, that feeling of community is still on display as well.

“They know you,” customer Randy Solis says. “The one on one. The personalities, it's off the charts.”

It's a feeling many crave in an increasingly corporate world.

“So many of the old-school type restaurants and businesses in the community that we see now closing...it's disappointing,” says Chester Edwards, another longtime customer.

It's a decision that not easy. 

“Who knows, maybe 10 years from now I'll decide when I'm 78 I might want to make sandwiches again,” David says.

However, he leaves knowing his shop is proof that sometimes it's the little things that count... like a sandwich and a smile.

If you're looking to grab one last sandwich at Bob's, you better hurry. 

The shop closes for good next Friday.