Don't worry if you see the lights out at the downtown Auburn location of Downtown Deli, it's not because the eatery is in a pickle.

Co-owner Michael Orofino said that he plans to consolidate the two delis as of Jan. 30 and keep the Grant Avenue location open.

However, rather than just close the downtown store, Orofino decided to sell the building and his equipment to someone who will open a new deli in the same spot.

“That's been a neighborhood food place for the last 20 years and we want to make sure that the revitalization of downtown Auburn continues in a positive direction,” he said.

Orofino, who co-owns the two delis with his wife, Patty, and his son, Dustin, said his family found someone who currently owns a couple of restaurants in Brooklyn and he plans to finalize the sale within a month. Orofino believes the new deli will continue in the same type of tradition as Downtown Deli.

“He has a track record in New York. We were happy that the location, the neighborhood restaurant, will continue to take care of the people down there,” he said.

One main reason behind the consolidation is that Patty and Michael spend more than half of the year in Florida, so they haven't been at the deli as frequently as they would like. And although they shrank their staff to a point where they were comfortable, Orofino said it's much easier to handle one store than two.

“Our style is very hands-on, it's there as owners and operators. We've always been successful because we've been able to be on a first-name basis with our customers as they come in the doors and have that kind of relationship with them. That's what we believe owning a restaurant is all about,” Orofino said. “Downtown Deli is in good financial health ... this is strictly a consolidation to our Grant Avenue store because we can't be hands-on anymore there, we're too far away and it makes more sense to operate one location with our son on location as a hands-on manager. We didn't want to take him and split him between two stores.”

The Orofino's told their employees at the downtown location nearly a month ago that the deli would be closing and they gave them three options. The first option was to work for the new deli, which is slated to open late February or early March, the second choice would be to work some hours at Downtown Deli's Grant Avenue location, or they could collect unemployment, Orofino said.

The family is considering extending hours at the remaining location to accommodate for extra traffic, and although the downtown location will close at the end of the month, the phone number, delivery and catering will be transferred to the Grant Avenue deli

Orofino said he hopes the community sees the consolidation as a positive transition, which is how the family is looking at it.

“We tried to leave our footprints to be a positive for downtown because we were into downtown's positive nature 20 years ago. We believed that downtown was a place that would be revitalized,” he said. “I think that there's a lot going on in downtown Auburn, I think it's in a direction of revitalization and I'm happy about that. When we started, it was because we believed in downtown Auburn and I want to leave believing in it.”