El-Mayor Restaurant in south Windsor will soon close its doors for good.
The family-owned Lebanese restaurant originally opened 29 years ago on Wyandotte Street East near Parent Avenue, but suffered a devastating fire in Jan. 2019 that caused $1.2 million in damage.
After being closed for over a year, El-Mayor re-opened in the spring of 2020 at a new location, 700 Division Road, south of Devonshire Mall.
Kamel Abbas owns the restaurant and ran it with his four children and two daughter-in-laws.
Abbas' daughter Lina Abbas says the decision to close was made together as a family.
"My dad, he is 75-years-old and he deserves to be treated for all the good work he did. You know, we had a very successful business for the last 29 years and it was a very hard decision for us to make as a family. I mean my dad, he needs to have free time for himself right now, to spend with his grandchildren and us."
El-Mayor made the announcement to close in a Facebook post on Wednesday and posted a video looking back at the past 29 years.
Abbas says the love and support from the community has been overwhelming.
"We couldn't be thankful enough for them. They've been very supportive. Especially around COVID time. They've been very very supportive. We appreciate all of them. We celebrate so many happy occasions with them. We've had a very strong relationship with them as well. We love them so much."
She says she doesn't know what the future will bring, but for now the restaurant will close.
Abbas says they've already seen an increase in business since they made the announcement.
"We got lots of customers yesterday once we posted. They said they want to come and they're coming back next week again and again. They said they just want to have as much as they can, enough meals and shawarma before we close. That's a blessing itself."
El-Mayor's final day in business will be Sunday Apr. 28.
-With files from AM800's The Morning Drive