CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Blossom Deli, one of downtown Charleston's most popular lunchtime eateries, plans to close Saturday afternoon.

The 80-seat restaurant has been a Charleston landmark for 16 years, attracting a crowd that includes lawyers, state employees, politicians, and other area movers and shakers.

"They informed me their intention is to close," said state Sen. Brooks McCabe, whose company owns the historic building on Quarrier Street that houses Blossom Deli. "They've been a major positive in the downtown and serve a quality product. Their closing is distressing."

Blossom owner Bill Sohovich declined comment Tuesday. Sohovich said he would talk about his reasons for closing the restaurant Wednesday -- possibly during a press conference.

Sohovich directed restaurant employees not to comment.

"He and his wife went somewhere [Tuesday] where nobody can reach them," said a man who answered Sohovich's cell phone Tuesday. The man said he was Sohovich's brother.

Charleston Mayor Danny Jones, a former restaurant owner, said the economic downturn and slow dinner business for downtown Charleston restaurants likely led to Sohovich's decision to close Blossom. Several other downtown restaurants have closed in recent months.

"The lunch business apparently wasn't enough to pay the bills," Jones said Tuesday. "There's a rush for three hours a day, but the other 21 hours gets very different. It's a very difficult business."

Blossom employees said they were initially told the restaurant would close Sept. 10, but Sohovich decided this week to shutter the eatery after lunch Saturday.

Sohovich also owns SoHo's at Capitol Market. That restaurant will stay open, and several Blossom employees who also work SoHo's will continue to do so, the workers said.

McCabe said Blossom has been a good tenant, but like other area businesses, the restaurant has struggled recently.

"It's been a tough year," he said.

In June, Blossom reopened for dinner with a menu that featured more affordable dishes and classic New Orleans cuisine. The restaurant had been open only for lunch for the previous six months, while Sohovich revamped the dinner menu.

"People are eating at home, and it's going to be a while before that changes," Sohovich told the Gazette in November 2009.

Also that year, Sohovich closed a third restaurant he owned at the time -- Billy's -- located in the former Smokey Bones at Southridge Centre.

"When you operate more than one place, it gets more difficult," Jones said. "When I tried to set up at other restaurants, I had problems."

Blossom Deli has been a popular Charleston eatery since almost the day Sohovich introduced his eclectic menu in the historic Art Deco soda shop in 1994.

Blossom features a long lunch counter that extends nearly the entire length of the restaurant. There's no traditional kitchen. Cooks prepare orders behind the lunch counter.

"I'm a strong believer in Charleston's downtown, and for the downtown to be vibrant, you need a place like Blossom Deli," McCabe said. "It's not Anywhere, USA. It's a distinctly unique facility in an exciting part of downtown."

The Blossom's loyal customers -- there are legions of them -- said Tuesday that they were devastated the restaurant was closing.

"The place is incredible," said Lisa Fischer-Casto, owner of The Art Store in South Hills. "The food's good, the people are awesome. It's one of my favorite places in Charleston."

McCabe and others are hoping that an experienced restaurant operator will step forward and reopen the Blossom.

"It's in the community's best interest, and the property owner's best interest, to see if we can find someone to take it over," McCabe said. "We would look very favorably on another credible operator."

Reach Eric Eyre at erice...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-4869.