The music didn’t die the day Debbie Malenfant announced that she’ll close the City Wine Sellar next month, but locally it sure did take a hit on the chin.

When Malenfant bought the deli/bakery and wine bar more than eight years ago, she had also envisioned a place where folks could sit back and enjoy live, local music. What she didn’t realize, but quickly learned, was that there wasn’t really a place for local troubadours to play on a regular basis, but there were plenty of musicians hungry for just such an opportunity.

“Selfishly, I can say the idea was about growing and survival,” says Malenfant of her decision to include live music each week. “What would make this a cool place?”

Last week Malenfant officially announced that she would be closing her business, located on the corner of Main and Water Streets in downtown Elizabeth City, Feb. 4. Citing a tough economic climate since the economy went south in 2008, Malenfant characterized her decision as a “rational” one, but one that also breaks her heart, she says.

And she’s not the only broken heart. Musicians who have made a name locally and regionally say they’re heart broken as well, but they understand it wasn’t an easy decision to make.

“When I saw the article I felt a pit in my stomach instantly,” says Chuck Hodges, a local musician who began playing at City Wine years ago. “First all I thought, she’s like a lot of small business people, I felt bad for her and it was gut wrenching to make that decision.

“But the first thing I thought after feeling bad for her, I thought, dang, there goes our best, and not just the best, but the only music venue.”

Well not the only music venue in town. There are Logan Raye’s, Coasters, Thumpers, Levels, Grouper’s, and most recently Big Daddy’s Pizza. And while a couple of places offered local, live music from time to time, City Wine was the first place to do so consistently and to become a scene for musicians and lovers of music.

“It’s a kind of bohemian kind of thing,” says musician Toby Tate, who began playing there years ago under the pseudonym Thomas Rose. “And people tend to actually watch you play there, where a lot of places you’re just background music.”

Malenfant doesn’t like to take credit for creating a local music scene. She has said in the past, and still maintains that it was all about timing. She wanted to offer music and there were musicians wanting a place to play it.

“Musicians created the scene,” says Malenfant. “People that wanted to play needed a place to play. People would come in looking for a place.”

“She’s nuts if she won’t take credit,” says Hodges in defiance to what he says is Malenfant’s genuine humility.

When Malenfant first began to offer music on Friday nights, she kept the whole affair pretty laid back. It was more or less an open mic scenario and there was not, or ever has been, a cover charge.

“Originally we didn’t pay the entertainment,” says Malenfant. “It was tip based.”

The first act she brought in was a local musician named Christian Wentz. Malenfant says that to her best recollection, it was the first venue Wentz had ever played.

The Friday night music scene began to grow. Eventually Malenfant was able to pay her musicians and she was able to build a solid base of acts that would play off and on over the years.

“Originally I booked the same four acts every month,” recalled Malenfant. “And then as time went on, the entertainment I had available to choose from kept getting larger and larger.”

And the word got out throughout the music community. Acts locally, regionally and from outside the state began to call Malenfant, interested in booking a gig at City Wine.

“I started booking them three months in advance,” she says.

And of course you can’t have a successful music scene without a customer base. And despite the economy — or perhaps in spite of it — people knew they could flock to the City Wine Sellar each Friday night for good music.

“What I have heard consistently is people will come to the venue downtown because they enjoy that aspect of it,” Malenfant says of the music.

And then word got around to music lovers from outside of the region, too. It wasn’t unusual for people from Norfolk, Va., to show up just for the music on any given Friday night.

Those folks, Malenfant says, were looking for an intimate, café sort of scene where they could enjoy music. City Wine Sellar, they had heard, was just that sort of place. It was different from the club scene in Norfolk, she was told.

“It’s not like a bar,” says musician Nick Simmons. “There are other cool places to go. This is a place you specifically go for the music.”

And that sort of vibe, as Chuck Hodges noted, was what made the place so popular with musicians and music lovers. And it’s what drew the attention of Public Broadcasting’s WUNC and North Carolina Weekend.

The weekly PBS show came to Elizabeth City and filmed a segment on a Friday night at City Wine. It was attention drawn by the music scene that Malenfant refuses to take credit for, but clearly had a hand in all of these years, that drew the Raleigh-based show here.

So will the music die with the closing of the City Wine Sellar? Probably not. Simmons and others, including Malenfant, are optimistic that with the current offering of small venues, and the potential for someone to take over the City Wine Sellar site, the music will only thrive.

“I think it will recover,” says Simmons. “I don’t know how or when. There is a good scene around and hopefully somebody is going to step up and fill her shoes if we can’t talk her into staying open.”

Musician and Elizabeth City State University music professor Chris Palestrant points out that the closing of City Wine could “optimistically” shift the music scene. He points out that with Malenfant’s closing and the recent closing of the Marina Restaurant — another strong music venue — folks will have to shift and look elsewhere to not only play, but also to listen to good music.

“It’s pretty obvious that our community has a hunger for the arts,” says Palestrant, who is one of the founding members of Uphill, a local blues band.

Palestrant says he is “cautiously optimistic” that City Wine could survive as a venue if someone took over the operation of the business. And Malenfant says that is not out of the realm of possibility.

She says there are a couple of folks looking at the business and she would encourage anyone who is willing to keep the corner eatery open to keep the music playing.

“If they listen to my input, I would highly encourage them to keep the music,” says Malenfant.

But in the meantime, until Feb. 4 when she closes the doors on more than eight years of business, there will be music each Friday night. In fact, Friday, Feb. 3, there will be one big musical send off inside the City Wine Sellar.

With the help of Palestrant, Malenfant says she is planning a big jam session, inviting all and any musicians who have played there over the years to join in the fray.

“Acoustic session,” says Palestrant. “No bands, no electric. Get together and jam. No drum kit, just hand percussion.”

Malenfant says she’ll start the farewell jam session at 5 p.m. and keep it open until 2 a.m.

“It will be an a-typical Friday at the City Wine Sellar,” says Malenfant. “My hope is it will be standing room only.”