Friday afternoon, Linda Wallace bade goodbye to a place she called home for 22 years.

Chances are you know it as “The Deli.” It’s been known by that moniker for years since it opened as one of the first few restaurants in Fayetteville. It’s on Ga. Highway 85, right across from the intersection with Georgia Avenue.

Through the years, the Deli has been more than a place to get a hearty sandwich with homemade soup and banana pudding. It’s been a place for folks to catch up, to visit, to commiserate.

So many loyal customers would often order the same thing that staff would come to not only know customer’s names, but they’d also have their order ready by the time they made it to the counter.

Eventually, Wallace named some of the sandwiches after her customers.

“They’d bring in friends and just ask for ‘my special,’” Wallace said. “They got a kick out of that.”

The Deli, Wallace says, has always been a place about slowing down and enjoying the company of others.

So it was no surprise that some tears were shed Friday on Wallace’s last day at The Deli. She is turning the reins over to Susan Ivory, and though Wallace is taking the “Gourmet Delight” name and recipes with her, she leaves behind a legacy of excellent customer service ... and she’s also given Ivory a quick schooling on how to do business her way:

“The customers will tell you what they want.” “Over the years we have been able to make our customers feel like they care coming to our house.” “It’s just about that personal touch.”

Wallace and Ivory met just two short weeks ago. Wallace had been contemplating closing the store, which was difficult to run after her business partner Wanda Moon died suddenly in 2001.

Ivory has always wanted to have her own little sandwich shop, and after her most recent job folded she was stymied about what to do. She made a phone call to a property management firm in Fayetteville and got the answer to her prayers ... and Wallace’s prayers, too.

“It’s everything that I have wanted, dreamed and prayed about,” Ivory said. “... I know I’ve got some pretty big shoes to fill.”

“We both are just saying this is too unbelievable,” Wallace said, crediting God for finding a way to keep the deli running without her. Wallace says she’s always thought of The Deli as His store and His business.

Wallace and Moon first opened up shop in Peachtree City in 1980 at the request of a friend who had some extra space next to a liquor store. Wallace recalled how inexperienced they were, losing money on some sandwiches in the early going before finding out what worked and what didn’t.

The “Yummy Tummy” sandwich from those first days is still on today’s menu at The Deli, a sandwich with ham, salami, corned beef, swiss cheese and homemade creamy italian dressing.

In ‘84 the Fayetteville shop opened at its current location and the Peachtree City store was sold the following year as two businesses became too much to handle. God’s hand was in that too, Wallace said, as the partners had previously decided to sell both stores, but a businessman only wanted the Peachtree City location.

The sale of the Peachtree City store gave Moon and Wallace enough capital to pay off their debts, making it much easier for them to stay in business, Wallace explained.

“We had never even thought about that,” Wallace said.

After Moon died suddenly in 2001, Wallace took over all the business operations, and it was difficult, she said. In addition to Wallace missing Moon’s presence and kinship, some customers were so shaken they just couldn’t come back to The Deli again, Wallace recalled.

Yet somehow Wallace managed to squeeze in a mission trip to West Africa after Moon’s death, as fellow church members helped run The Deli while she was gone.

“There were seven to eight people here every day, mopping floors, doing what needed to be done,” she recalled.

The trip with Shattering Darkness ministry so touched Wallace that she plans to go back this spring for another mission trip. The ministry focuses on taking natives in the area around to various villages so they can evangelize with their stories, Wallace explained.

Because the terrain is so rocky and dusty, it can be difficult to maneuver so fund-raising is underway for a special four-wheel drive truck that all “the boys” can pile into when they’re darting about the African countryside, Wallace said.

Ivory, who will run The Deli with her husband Dewayne, will rename the restaurant Ivory’s Deli and Cafe, the latter addition due to her plans to offer coffee to the menu. Ivory also plans to be open for breakfast and dinner, expanding from the current lunch-only hours.

Her husband joked with her that they’ll need to buy a cot for her so she can stay at the store.

“I want everything to be perfect, as Linda has kept it, in everything that we do,” said Ivory. The Deli’s two employees are staying on board and that will help continuity, too. “I want the flavor of love that’s been here as an ingredient, in everything we prepare.”

Wallace, meanwhile, isn’t retiring. She will continue Gourmet Delight catering and also her part-time work as food service director at New Hope Baptist Church coordinating the Wednesday night suppers, which have grown in popularity in recent months.

She’ll still have fond memories from The Deli with her, though. Like her 50th birthday party, with customers packed in and Wallace not figuring it out until “Elvis” walked through the front door. The “Elvis” actor didn’t leave before Wallace was “all shook up.”

“He embarrassed me for 30 minutes. We got a lot of laughs out of that,” she said.

Wallace will miss interacting with her employees, both current and former. She calls them “The Deli girls” with love and affection and says she’ll miss them a bunch.

“Wanda and I both never married,” Wallace said. “They’re kind of like our girls. Kind of like ours.”

Still, it’s hard for Wallace to imagine her life without The Deli.

“I always felt I’d retire from The Deli, but God has a different plan,” Wallace said. “I’m just changing job descriptions. ... It’s so much better this way than to close it.”

Wallace said she has enjoyed watching her younger customers grow up, many returning from college and eventually bringing in their own children.

She has grown so close to some of her customers that they are unsure how they will go on living their lives without her bubbly personality at The Deli.

“One customer asked me the other day if she could have my phone number. I said, ‘Sure you can.’ Then she said, ‘If I call you up will you meet me here for lunch?’ I said, ‘Sure, I guess so.’ I hadn’t really thought about it until then.

As for other customers, Wallace tells them they already have all they need.

“I tell them it’s in your heart, and you won’t forget these things,” Wallace said.

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