VALDOSTA — The COVID-19 pandemic is about to claim another business.

Michael’s Deli and Seafood, a longtime fixture on Valdosta’s North Ashley Street, will close Dec. 24.

Petra Prince, the owner, said the past two years were “the hardest we’ve ever had … very stressful.”

As the pandemic dragged on, there were supply chain issues, she said, but “we’ve been managing.”

A major problem is the lack of available workers. Many restaurants, hobbled or closed at the pandemic’s height, have faced problems hiring enough workers since local authorities eased up on COVID-19 restrictions.

“I have nine employees; I would like to have 20,” Prince said.

The restaurant’s workers were told of the planned closure last week, she said.

Michael’s Deli began in Waycross in 1979 and was franchised to several other South Georgia cities. Prince said the Valdosta location was the first of the franchises.

The various Michael’s Delis now operate as independent eateries, she said.

Prince and her husband, Craig, bought the Valdosta restaurant from its previous owners in 2002, three years after they moved to the Azalea City.

She was born in what was then Czechoslovakia, and immigrated to the U.S. in 1994 after marrying Craig, an American minister. This was the year after the “Velvet Revolution,” the peaceful divorce of that country along ethnic lines into the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. She has since earned U.S. citizenship.

“I’ve been very proud to run (the restaurant) for 19 years, but it’s time to change and move on,” she said.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.