Photo by Alan Olson The red building at the corner of First and Arlington in Moundsville, once a Mexican restaurant, will see new life breathed into it as a deli and primitives shop next month.

MOUNDSVILLE — The building which one housed El Patron will see new life and a new atmosphere, as a new deli restaurant is slated to open within the coming weeks.

The building at 2213 First Street, at the corner of First and Arlington, will be home to the Barnyard Deli and More, which will feature handmade food alongside handmade furniture, much of it provided by Amish sources.

Wayt said she has an Amish connection for the furniture, as well as fresh deli meat and cheeses from Walnut Creek.

“I’m going to do it the old fashioned way,” Wayt said Friday. “It used to be when they’d put lunch meat packed up to go home, they’d wrap it in white paper, and I’m bringing that back. I’m bringing the old stuff back,” she said.

The deli will also feature Hershey’s ice cream, a hot dog machine, and a milkshake machine. One thing Wayt said she was particularly excited for is a recurring Wednesday offering, another throwback to classic businesses.

“Absolutely, positively every Wednesday is going to be soup, beans and cornbread,” she said. “Years ago, every restaurant would have, just like fish on Fridays, was soup, beans and cornbread on Wednesday. I’m bringing it back.”

Wayt said she has plans to hire four employees to start, but if the business takes off, she hopes to expand it if everything goes well.

The building has far more space than its innocuous facade might suggest, with plenty of room in the back for future development. Behind the scenes, Wayt plans to eventually install a commercial air fryer.

Even weeks ahead of its opening, the deli’s walls are decorated with myriad handcrafted goods, each of which carries a price tag, so diners can take a part of the restaurant home with them.

The furniture and crafts are handmade, some by Amish craftsmen. Wayt also operates Home Sweet Home Hall Rentals, Primitives & More.

“I wanted to shake it up and have something different,” she said. “… My dream was always to own a primitives shop.”

Wayt said she was given the chance to open the restaurant by the owner of the building, who offered to foot the bill if Wayt would put in the work to whip the building back into shape. Wayt has worked for more than six weeks to clean the junk out of the building — enough to fill two semi trailer dumpsters, she said — apply fresh paint, and get the building in shape.

“When COVID hit, and they shut places down, it hit me hard, living in the neighborhood district,” she said. “It’s just my little primitives shop, and I went in the hole. The guy who owns this building, David Schriver, … made me this opportunity because he knew I had previously run (Tipsy’s Bar and Grill) and he saw how clean it was, and how we remodeled it.

“He called me and said, ‘I heard what happened, and I want to offer you this building,'” Wayt continued. “‘If you’re willing to remodel it, paint it, and put your touch to it, I’ll pay for everything,’ … Me, my husband, and my nephew just commenced. We painted inside and outside.”

Wayt is hoping to see the business open sometime in September.