After almost 30 years, Emily Windom is calling it quits. The owner of the Country Dairy Store in Bremen has owned the store since she first opened it in 1980, but has found that the store is under too much economic pressure. The store has been well known to the Bremen community for its pizza and sociable attendant, but times are hard, Windom says, and business is slow.

Sitting amid shelves only half-populated with stock, Windom greets all of her customers with familiar banter as they walk in the door. When the store opened at its first location in 1980 on Highway 78, there were very few establishments for residents to patronize, and even fewer that provided carry out meals for families. The store is known in the area for its pizza, which according to the customers, will be missed the most.

“They’re going to miss these pizzas,” she says. “We’ve been making them the whole time. Before [this store] there were no pizza or grocery stores. Nights and weekends we’d make a slew of pizzas. They don’t want me to close. They’re all my friends, and they’ve become like family.”

Windom has gathered a faithful following in the area and can recognize most of her patronage by name and if not by sight. The problem is, she said, that not as many of the people she recognizes visit anymore.

“I’d probably stay on if not for the economy,” she said, “but I have a daughter in Panama City and family that I never see that I can visit.”

Before opening Country Dairy, Windom made a living at the Sewell Manufacturing Company for 20 years. The Bremen resident has spent her entire working life in the city and said that even her store’s closure might not mean a full-fledged retirement.

“I’m probably not through working. Who knows, if the economy picks up I might take up some part-time work somewhere,” she said.

Windom plans to close her store at the end of next week. She’s already found a buyer for her pizza ovens, though many people have propositioned her to keep the pizza business running.

She looks out the large front window at the Plantation Pipeline across the street, and the cars pull in and out by her gas pumps. She nods at them and presses the button for the pump to run.

“I love this, and I’ll miss it,” she said.