If the wall and table decorations were still up you would never realize it was Seaport Village Ice Cream and Coffee Shop’s last day in business.

The coffee shop bustles with activity.  Patrons hurry in and out, hints of sadness in their voices as they offer wishes of  “good luck” and “congratulations on having more free time,” to owner Louise Vandal.  After 15 years of business and acquiring “Wind Tunnel” as its nickname, Vandal is shuttering Seaport Village and looking forward to spending more time with her grandkids.

“I made the decision on the first of the year,” Vandal said. “Maybe I’ll do some traveling, enjoy my grandkids more.”

Seaport Village opened in 1996 and quickly acquired the Wind Tunnel moniker due to its reputation as the center of town gossip.  “We never encouraged the name, but it came very quickly,” Vandal said with a laugh.  “I don’t know where that’s going to go now, its upsets me and is why I have some mixed feelings about closing.”

“I heard you’re closing, is tomorrow your last day?” a customer says. “No, today,” Vandal replies.

“I’m happy but still, you know, it’s kind of sad since I’ve made so many friends here,” Vandal says after the customer leaves.  Others walk up to offer her hugs and say thank you for running Seaport Village for so many years.

“It’s a place for the whole community,” said Mikayla Florio, 17, of Mattapoisett and a four-year employee of Seaport Village.  “I started working here when I was 13 and it’s sad to see it close.”

“A lot of my employees, this is their first job,” said Vandal. “I see these kids grow up, go to school and get married.  That’s one of the best things.”

Florio gestures to the staff behind the counter, “That’s my sister, she’s our cousin and that girl’s brother works here too.”

Vandal, however, will not be closing up shop entirely.  She still owns the seasonal May through October Seaport Slip near Shipyard Park and invited everyone who came to see her on her last day to drop by the Slip and see her there.  “We have everything we have here over at the Slip,” she said.  “I’ve owned and operated the Slip for nine years.”

“I’ll be at the Slip for the summer,” said Florio.  “I guess after that I’ll try finding something else in restaurants since I’ve been in the business so long.”