"Next week, I'm leaving," Patel told Mark and Laura Raynard, a Fort Mill couple that giggled like newlyweds as he cashed out their order. "Tuesday's the last day."

"We'll see you at least two times before you close," Mark Raynard called out as he left.

So ends a six-year legacy Patel's father and store owner Mahendrabhai Gordham "Omar" Patel, 48, left behind after a triggerman gunned him down at the store on Jan. 4, 2007.

Omar opened the store on Tom Hall Street in 2002, and sometimes toiled for more than 10 hours before napping on a pallet in the back.

After the shooting, Jigar and Omar's widow, Anita Patel, planned to sell the store. But mother and son reopened the store Jan. 22, 2007. Sixteen months later, they are selling Omar Patel's dream.

"I want to hang on to my dad's legacy, but nowadays, it isn't safe," Jigar said last Wednesday between ringing up customers. "People will rob you for two dollars. I'm my mother's only child."

Another couple will take over store management Wednesday, Jigar said. Selling the store will allow Jigar to finish college and "let my dad's legacy run through my future success," he said.

Case still unsolved

No one has been arrested in the shooting, Fort Mill Police Capt. Bryan Zachary said. It was the only homicide reported to the Fort Mill Police Department in 2007, and it remains under investigation by the State Law Enforcement Division and the Fort Mill Police Department.

"I'm mad at the person who did this," Anita said. "They messed up my life.

"I'm alone," she added. "I'm scared. My question is, why did it happen?"

Zachary previously told The Herald that a witness saw someone run west from the business on Tom Hall Street wearing a dark-colored, hooded sweatshirt that concealed the head and face. No other information was available, he said.

A person of interest in the killing remains in custody in North Carolina in connection with a Charlotte robbery, Zachary said. He declined to say how officials think that man factors into Omar's death.

Moving on

Jigar does not want his mother to work at the store alone, as she sometimes does while he's in classes at UNC Charlotte and Central Piedmont Community College. He wants to become a doctor.

Still, leaving makes him sad.

"Everybody walking in and out is family," he said about loyal customers, some who attended Omar Patel's funeral. "I know what cigarette they smoke, what beer they drink and even what car they drive."

That's how his dad ran the business, too, said the 21-year-old, whose outgoing personality rewards him with repeat customers.

"He had a photoshop memory," Jigar said.

Customers like family

Like Jigar, his customers have mixed feelings about the store's pending sale.

"I don't like it," Phyllis Spears of Rock Hill said as she pumped gas. "It's hard to find people like them."

Spears said Omar Patel was known for his giving spirit. Anita and Jigar Patel picked up that baton and ran with it.

"They go out of their way for you," she said. "Sometimes, if you didn't have your money, they would give it (merchandise) to you on credit."

Mark Raynard added, "It's a shame. We've been trading with them ever since they've been here."

After a brief lull in foot traffic, the store door closes behind a lady flashing a sunny smile.

"Colt 45 time?" Jigar asked with a knowing grin.

"All day," said the woman, who paid her bill and left.

Jigar Patel's glance briefly followed the woman's back out of the store. Then, his face softened.

"We're family," he said. "You can never turn your back on family."