Norwich — Diane Harkness has been frying, packing and portioning out cuts of fish at Seafood Etc. for decades.

On Sunday, as customers marked the landmark store's last day, they returned the favor, bringing her and her sister Patty Wright flowers, cards and other gifts.

"We've probably got 200 hugs today, I swear to god," Harkness said.

Starting Monday, workers will begin pulling out the building's equipment and begin preparing it to be demolished, making way for a retail project and ending the seafood market's nearly 30-year presence on Boswell Avenue.

Harkness and Wright had spent last week making stuffed clams and mushrooms preparing for the shop's final days. Still, they were running out quickly Sunday as people got wind of the shop's closure.

"It was just mayhem ... it's hard for (customers) because we're leaving but it's hard for us too," chef Dave Segersteromi said.

For the Muller family of Uncasville — sons David and William III, and parents Holly and William Sr. — who were out celebrating Mother's Day with some whole belly clam dinners, Seafood Etc. was a holiday tradition that will be sorely missed.

"Mother's Day, Father's Day, birthdays, whatever holiday excuse we can think of to come out (here)," David Muller said.

David Muller found out in April that the store would be closing, and made plans to be there on the last day with his family, calling ahead to make sure their favorite meals wouldn't be sold out.

Many of their customers have been coming since they first opened, Harkness said.

She remembered years ago, the line would be out the door on Fridays for the fish and chips, and she would spend the entire day dropping fillet after fillet into one of the Frialators under the watchful eye of her father, Robert Shortman, who started the business.

"It would not be unusual to see my father over there with flour in his hair ... when he was in his 70s, telling people the correct way to do it," Harkness said. "He was very meticulous and he wanted those meals to go out as if you were serving yourself, that's exactly what he told us."

Shortman kept working until he lost his eyesight, but still visited once a week. He died in November 2014.

In March, Shortman's other daughter, Sharon Clachrie, president of Seafood Etc. Inc., said in an interview that the family was getting old and was planning on working together at their Pawcatuck location at 2 S. Broad St.

"We call ourselves the 'over the hill gang' because I'm the baby and I'm 58," said Segersteromi, who has been working at the location for five years.

While she'll miss the customers, Harkness, who lives in Westerly, is looking forward to the shorter commute to Pawcatuck.

Currently the Stonington location doesn't offer some of the fried dishes that Norwich did, including fish and chips, but Harkness says eventually she hopes they will.

"We're trying to fit all of us down at the other store. We've all gotta work together to get everything running," she said.

As the Muller family waited for their last meal on Sunday, David said the loss of their favorite local seafood spot was difficult, and they would have to drive much farther to find items such as seafood pies and lobster, that he liked as much. 

n.lynch@theday.com