They've been meeting at the Zellers restaurant every Saturday for more than a decade, a tradition that will soon come to an end when the store begins the process of shuttering to make way for Target.
The group of about a dozen, now mostly retired, first came for the breakfast - just $3.99 for toast, eggs, bacon or ham and all the coffee you can drink - stayed for the friendships and will be leaving as family.
Some knew each other from curling, a few live in the same building; others happened to also be Zellers cafe regulars and were drawn in by the lively crew at the long table on the far side of the restaurant.
Nobody remembers making a plan to meet every Saturday but it just seemed to happen that way. "We usually get here at about 9 a.m., and we're here for a good hour and a half," chuckled Edie Burch. "Sometimes, I drink $10 worth of coffee here."
So well do the staff know each of the regulars that by the time they sit down, their coffee - decaf or regular - or tea is already on its way.
They all sit in the same seats every Saturday. Burch's post is always the head of the table, where she holds court as the group's matriarch - or mascot, considering the quirky outfits she likes to wear for their weekend breakfast meetings.
She's fond of costumes, wigs and face painting, and never lets a holiday go by without getting decked out; for B.C. Day, she was planning an ensemble of blue, red and gold.
And as the friendships around the table bloomed, so too did relationships with the longtime restaurant staff.
"We come here because the staff are so good," said Maureen Allman.
"That's why we come here, too," added Sharon McKinlay, sitting at a nearby booth with two off-duty waitresses. "We're going to miss you."
"We'll miss you too," said April Schonewille, a 25-year veteran of the Zellers restaurant.
Schonewille and Heather Joinsom, who has logged 12 years, wiped away tears as they talked about the group to which they've grown so close. "We're going to miss the customers," Schonewille said. "We've watched their kids grow up, and others we've known for so long. They're like family. That's going to be hard."
"Don't get us all going," McKinlay joked as her eyes brimmed with tears. Like many of the other regulars, McKinlay said the weekly meetings were less about the breakfast, tasty as it might be.
"It's how they treat us," she said. "They treat us like family. They are the greatest bunch ever."
The Zellers restaurant's last day is Aug. 18, a Saturday.
spayne@tricitynews.com
