The doors are open and the grill is as hot as ever at the Klondyke on North Washington Street.

But its owners of 21 years, Eddie and Janelle Cook, served their last plate of fried chicken and cornbread Friday.

The Cooks are selling the popular hot spot, which has been everything from a service station and a fishing tackle and bait shop.

&#8220It was just time to do it, with the grandchildren starting to grow up and us wanting to enjoy them,” Janelle Cook said.

Their longtime customers who file in each day for drinks, snacks and a quick, tasty lunch to go will be in good hands, however. Klondyke’s new owners are experienced in rescuing neighborhood institutions.

David Day, an Indiana native who bought the old China Doll location on Halls Ferry Road and turned it into Horseface Harry’s, has bought Klondyke.

He plans to add some of Horseface’s items to the menu, but he’ll keep many of the plate lunch offerings the same.

&#8220We’ll add some of the good country cooking like at Horseface’s and add some other things. It’ll be phenomenal, though,” Day said, adding that tables and chairs and a second television set are likely additions to make the atmosphere even more comfortable.

Day’s wife, Rhonda, will help run the place for the next two months. After all, the place has a hefty following.

&#8220By my calculations, they’ve served about 325 people a day for the last 20 years. That’s 2.5 million people,” Day said.

Over the years, Klondyke has been a favorite of the blue-collar set of Vicksburg.

&#8220Guys who work at Anderson Tully or the Corps or up the road at the harbor make up 60 percent of our business,” Janelle Cook said. &#8220There are so few mom-and-pop stores like this left in Vicksburg.”

Klondyke dates back to at least 1946, when it was operated by the late Lewis Miller Sr., the late Don Miller Sr. and the late V.K. Miller. The Cooks bought the establishment in 1984.

Its days as a service station ended about the time the Cooks came along, and it eventually evolved into more of a food and snack stop.

A few fishing supplies, like live bait, are still sold there.

&#8220Used to be, there were a lot of crickets and minnow to sell. With the river being low, it’s not so much,” Eddie Cook said.

Besides spending time with their four grandchildren – ages 4 months to 6 years – the Cooks plan to do a little fishing of their own at their 35-acre farm in Yazoo County.

&#8220We have a lake up there I’ve caught some eight pound bass in before. There’s no telling what’s in it now,” Cook said.

Janelle Cook chalks up their two decades of success to customers like Nancy Nevels, who comes in every day, if for nothing more than just to chat.

&#8220It’s a bit of a sad day. But it’s good to know someone good is going to take it over,” Nevels said.