POULSBO — Looking around a room filled with family, friends old and new and long-time customers, Larry Nakata remarked Sunday that such a crowd usually only gathers for a funeral.

And while the event was to honor the passage of Poulsbo Market, he said it was not a funeral.

“First of all, we all want to be together and what a way to do that,” Nakata commented. “We wanted to have this event to add closure and a good completion to the rich history of this store.”

At 6 p.m. today, Poulsbo Market’s doors will close for the very last time. In preparation for the occasion, More than 200 friends marked the 30-year-old Town & Country Markets branch’s end with a gathering at the store March 14.

Against the sounds of a ragtime band, folks looked at photos and memorabilia spanning from 1974. Jubilant belly laughs emitted from some groups, while a tear or two was shed over the store that was more than just a grocery shopping experience for so many people.

Customer Al Wilner said besides being a place to get the basic necessities, Poulsbo Market was his “one and only hangout.”

“They had this way of making you feel like you were their one and only customer,” Wilner said.

Wilner and his wife Lois recalled one of their fondest memories of the store was when they first moved to Poulsbo from Chicago six years ago. Al Wilner said Deli Manager Jeff Cox, upon learning they had just moved to town, sliced them off half a pound of meat and half a pound of cheese and gave it to them for free, saying, “Welcome to Poulsbo.”

More long-term customers also noted that the spirit of friendliness and service that prevailed there. Though times had changed around it, Poulsbo Market had held on to small town values and a small town feel, former shoppers said.

“They were always the friendliest store,” commented 97-year-old Fern McKnight, who used to walk to Poulsbo Market from her 10th Avenue home and who had been shopping there since its first days.

“When I came in the door last week and saw how bare the shelves were, I almost cried,” commented Gladys Paulson, echoing the first reaction of many to the news that the market would be ending its run.

Paulson was one of the many dignitaries on hand Sunday night. She and her husband Clarence sold T&C the property on which the store was built and the company asked them to be the first customers at the new store during its grand opening celebration. Wearing the same outfit she’d worn 30 years ago, Paulson recalled picking out some groceries, having her picture taken and then being told that the experience was just for the cameras and she’d have to put her groceries back.

“I said, ‘No. If I’m going to be the first customer I’m going to really do it.’ And besides, I needed those groceries. Well, the poor clerk got so flustered that she forgot how to run the cash register,” she relayed with a laugh.

But the fond memories were not limited to customers. Poulsbo Market was a favorite of employees from the top down at T&C. That included the beloved Don Nakata, who founded the store. Though Don died a few years ago, his wife Ellen was on hand Sunday, as were his daughters.

“I know Don is with us in spirit,” Ellen told those gathered. “He loved this store. He just loved this store and all the people who worked there.”

The sentiment was echoed time and time again by store employees past and present.

Manager Al Moore described Poulsbo Market as a family and said that no matter where they all went, the bonds that were built during Poulsbo Market’s 30-year history would remain. This was evidenced by a group of about 10 Poulsbo Market employees who marked the store’s closing by getting tattoos of the Japanese symbol for “friendship.”

“It really speaks to the relationships that were built at this store that people you wouldn’t ever think would want a tattoo would mark their bodies in such a permanent manner over this,” Moore, a member of the tattoo club himself, commented.

Poulsbo Market Assistant Manager Eric Otis commented that once all of the tears were shed and the good-byes were said, he had a sense that the end of Poulsbo Market wasn’t really and end at all. He said he saw the closure as fulfilling the Japanese word Kaizan (continuous improvement), one of three words T&C does business by.

“I don’t believe we’re closing because we failed,” Otis said. “Even though we’re closing, we succeeded in what we wanted to do and now it’s time for me to move forward into the future.”