CARY - The Food Factory was packed with customers Friday - many who came for a goodbye to pastrami sandwiches and the downtown Cary establishment.

As the deli's closing day approached, subs flew off the line, regular customers filtered to a semi-secret room in the back, and the Schmids prepared to leave the social hub they'd fostered for 12 years.

"We built so many relationships," said Jimmy Schmid, who with wife Lisa will open a new Food Factory on Duke University's campus this fall.

Lisa's cousin, Ray Dorry, is set to open a similar deli in the Cary space.

Among the Schmids' regular customers in Cary were Kay Yow, the RailHawks soccer team, police officers, firemen and scores of Cary residents.

And there were, of course, waves upon waves of transplanted Northerners looking for a reminder of home.

They found it in the food - chicken parms, kaiser rolls, pork rolls, corned beef- and the Schmids, who are Queens, N.Y., natives.

"It's not gonna be easy" to give up the deli, said Chris Hartland, an upstate New York native and Food Factory regular. "That's one thing that they have a lot of: loyalty."

In their past, Northern lives, Jimmy Schmid was a New York City police officer and fireman, and Lisa Schmid worked at Citibank in the World Trade Center.

They left New York looking for lower taxes, then set up shop on downtown Cary's Chatham Street almost 11 years ago.

Downtown Cary hasn't always been known as the busiest place.

But The Food Factory drew a strong enough following to support the Schmids and their three children, now ages 9, 13 and 16.

Customers said they came back for good food and that gruff Queens friendliness.

"Where else can you come and get cursed at?" said Jimmy Schmid, referring to the New York tradition of messing with one's customers. "Where else can you feel at home?"

Taking the business from Cary is a bittersweet decision for the couple.

They need room to expand - and downtown impact fees had blocked the way in some cases.

The Duke location will allow them a little more financial security for their children.

But on Friday, customer after customer approached to ask the same sad question: were they really leaving?

"People are up in arms," Lisa Schmid said. "In a sweet way."