MERRIMACK – Years ago, Ruthie’s Postal Parlour Restaurant lost the Postal Parlour from its name, and now it’s dropped the Ruthie’s, as well.

The restaurant was reborn Tuesday under a new name, Ida Mae’s Sandwich Shop, and with new ownership.

After 28 years, Ruthie’s owner Ruth Robertson sold the business to new owners.

Customers hoped aloud Monday that the new restaurant won’t lose the friendliness and familiarity that became its trademark over its decades in business.

“It’s more than coffee and food. … It’s like a family,” Dolly Cota, a Merrimack resident who started coming to the diner when it first opened in 1983, said Monday between sips of coffee.

“It’s the sort of place … everybody says hello to you every time you come in,” Dwight Damon, known as “Doc” to the wait staff, said as he finished his regular breakfast of poached eggs and bacon. “People come here for the comfort food, but they also come here for the comfort.”

More than 30 customers jammed Monday morning into the small restaurant, crowding around the counter and pulling Robertson aside to exchange hugs, cards and well wishes. Balloons and party hats topped each table, and a “Happy Retirement” banner hung along the back wall.

Decorated with gray carpeting and off-white walls, the restaurant decor has changed about as much over three decades as the menu, which has stayed mostly faithful to its range of coffee, eggs and toast, among other selections.

The food is good, according to the diner’s contingent of loyal customers, many of whom come every day. But the restaurant’s specialty has always been its warmth and hospitality, customers said.

Outside of its daily breakfasts and lunches, the restaurant has hosted more than its share of community meetings and holiday celebrations. And beyond names and orders, the waitstaff learns personalities, sharing in their customers’ triumphs and tragedies.

“When my wife died, they mourned with me like family,” said Damon, who used to live near the restaurant.

“If you’re not here for a few days, (Ruthie) will come look for you, make sure everything’s OK,” said Shirley Small, a longtime regular. “She really cares.”

Although changes to the menu are planned, the restaurant’s new owner, Brian Slez, of Hampton, wants to preserve the family feel of the restaurant.

Slez, who runs Etta Mae’s Deli, a seasonal restaurant on Seabrook Beach on the Seacoast, will keep the waitstaff, and he doesn’t expect any physical changes to the building, which served as a post office and an ice cream parlor before Robertson took over.

But there are plans to extend the hours, offering breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week with a menu that includes subs, deli-style sandwiches and a rotation of homestyle dinner specials.

“It won’t be anything fancy,” Slez said Monday. “We’re hoping to keep the customer base that’s here and add on to that. … That’s the biggest part of it, keeping the family atmosphere.”

Robertson, for one, will be around to see it. In the coming weeks, she plans to take some time off for skiing and to visit her grandchildren, but after that, Robertson will come visit the restaurant, she said, and she’ll certainly keep up with her friends and former customers outside work.

“I won’t be going anywhere,” said Robertson, who bought the restaurant in 1983. “These are my friends.”

Meanwhile, the Ruthie’s faithful will spend their mornings the same way they always do, sharing breakfast and gossip at their favorite coffee joint.

“It’s not closing. It’s turning,” said Maureen Hall, who has spent decades enjoying Ruthie’s biscuits and gravy. “It’ll be the same. It just might take a while for (the new owners) to learn all our names.”

Jake Berry can be reached at 594-6402 or jberry@nashuatelegraph.com.