SHAOZHUO CUI The Roanoke Times

Larry Kerr eats the lunch he bought from Wade's deli while hiker Jim Marx packs up the food he just got for the next six days he will spend on his Appalachian Mountains journey from Georgia to Maine.

PEARISBURG -- Where will Kim Gabbert's grandmother find her salt fish now?

And what about Charlotte Porterfield? Where is she going to get her special cake yeast?

"I really do hate to see them go out," Porterfield said Thursday as she loaded her car with items from Wade's Supermarket just outside Pearisburg.

Porterfield said she drives from Lindside, W.Va., at least once a month to pick up things at Wade's she can't find other places.

"They had the very best cabbage for slaw. ... They had fresh coconut."

"I like the store," she said with a sigh. "I hate to see it go out."

Wade's, which has been operating at its location on U.S. 460 since the mid-1970s, will close in the next three or four weeks. Owner Lowell Wade said Wednesday that the decision to close was obvious, but hard.

"There's just too many supermarkets for too few people," Wade said, noting that Food Lion, Wal-Mart and Dollar General markets have cut into grocery sales at the Giles County store. "It's been a real struggle for the past couple of years over there.

"I think we had competitive prices, but apparently not competitive enough," Wade added. "We did have a lot of regular shoppers, but there weren't enough."

Gabbert, 34, said her grandmother -- like many of Giles County's older residents -- frequented Wade's.

"The older people, they know where everything is," said the Rich Creek resident. "I think a lot of them will be crying over the closing. My generation shops at Wal-Mart."

But Betty Jones of Pembroke said she refuses to go to Wal-Mart or Food Lion.

"It's just always been Wade's," said the 77-year-old Jones. "They've always got what you want and you know where everything is. They're all good people, especially the boy who cuts the meats. He's been here for years."

That "boy," Donnie Wimmer, is 52 now. He started at the Pearisburg store in 1970 as a bag boy before moving on to his position as meat department manager. Before Wade bought it, the store belonged to Bill Gentry.

"This company has been good to me," Wimmer said of the local Wade's Foods company. "I've raised two children. Now I've got three granddaughters."

When the Pearisburg store closes, Wimmer said he plans to go to work at Wade's Supermarket in Radford. Since he lives in Eggleston, though, the commute will cost him more.

Joann Jessee, the store's produce manager, said she will miss the job she has held for 30 years.

"It's really sad," the 52-year-old Jessee said. "You're not going to see your regular customers. It's like being a part of the family -- and you're breaking the family up."

Store manager Mark Murchie, who has been with Wade's for 17 years, said the Pearisburg store had 35 employees.

"That's dwindled down quite a bit in the past week," he said, noting that many of the employees are already finding other jobs.

"All of them are good employees that are more or less in demand," said Wade. "Some of them are transferring to other Wade's stores."

Wade said the supermarkets in Radford, Christiansburg and Dublin will remain open and that those stores are large enough to compete with others in the area.

Although the Pearisburg store was his smallest, Wade said he still hates closing it.

"Oh, Lord, yes, I hate it. This gets us down to three supermarkets and at one time we had seven," he said.

Wade's closed two stores in Blacksburg in 2000 and 2005. The company's Pulaski store closed in 1998.

Wade said his company is in the process of buying the shopping center where the Pearisburg supermarket is located. In addition to the 18,000-square-foot supermarket, the center has a smaller store that was once rented by Sears, as well as an active ABC store. He said he hasn't decided what will be done with the property, but one idea he is considering is opening a restaurant in the vacant store.

He doesn't, however, envision any kind of grocery store filling the bigger one.

"I don't see a supermarket there," he said.

That's not only bad news for Wade's senior patrons but also for weary wayfarers.

People from all over the world who have hiked the Appalachian Trail recall finding an oasis at the Pearisburg Wade's, a welcome respite from their long days on the rugged path that sidles up to U.S. 460.

"The hikers are going to miss us," predicted Dewana Eason as she attended to customers at the store's deli.

"They're saying they would love for us to stay open because we've got the best chicken and the best cakes."