The downtown Augusta location of Lisa’s Legit Burritos closed its doors Feb. 13 after almost 11 years at the corner of Water and Bridge streets.

Jay Simanski, the working owner of the restaurant, said the decision was a tough one but lifted a weight off his shoulders. The Gardiner location, at 304 Water St., will remain open.

Ehrin Simanski, his wife, who had operated the Augusta location for a decade, took a job as the shelter manager for Bread of Life, which operates a soup kitchen and shelter and offers services — a job he said she was offered out of the blue.

“When they thought of her for that job, she came home and we discussed it, and I said, ‘You know what, I can tell you’re not happy in the restaurants anymore, so why don’t you go for it — do it,'” Jay Simanski said. “‘Do something different. Have fun.’ And so we decided to do that.”

But within a couple months of Ehrin leaving, Jay was growing tired of running both shops. Usually, he said, business drops around September and June, when school schedules change, but the business never came back this year.

The sidewalks in downtown Augusta are quieter than they used to be, between the loss of the University of Maine at Augusta’s architecture program — the students were regulars — and more people working from home, he said.

“I said, ‘I’d rather concentrate on Gardiner, which was doing great,'” he said. “‘I’d rather do one place great than two places mediocre.’ I didn’t feel as if I was doing both restaurants justice by running back and forth every day and trying to do both.”

He said he now hopes to focus on improving the Gardiner location, perhaps with a salad bar and extended hours.