Con Con’s Diner’s Facebook page posted Nov. 19 that the restaurant would be relocating, “not yet sure when or where.”

The restaurant has become a local fixture in its 16 years on Russellville Road, but a recent sale of the property it occupies has forced its ownership to look for a new home.

“I was shocked at first. I mean, it was devastating to me, but with all the support that I’ve gotten, I’m feeling much better,” said Connie Blair, 55, the restaurant’s namesake and owner. “(The relocation) may not be in my timing, but it’s going to work out.”

Blair said she founded ConCon’s in 2009 as a solo venture after she had worked for her older sister at Teresa’s Restaurant on Gordon Avenue for around 20 years.

“I just wanted to go out on my own,” Blair said. “I like being my own boss.”

Blair said that some of her customers followed her when she left Teresa’s, meaning she’d been waiting on them for 30 years or more.

Blair said she’d even been discouraged from getting a more modern business operating system because handwritten tickets were more personal. Waitstaff could write the customer’s name on a ticket and the kitchen staff would know exactly how the customer would want it.

ConCon’s operation is also a family affair. Blair’s daughter is the head chef, and two of her nieces work as waitresses. She also said much of the rest of her staff has been with her for long enough, “even though they’re not blood, they’re family.”

The whiteboard menus are handwritten in cursive by Blair, including a daily rotation of specials and vegetables, a practice she said she brought with her from Teresa’s. The diner’s walls are covered with a variety of décor and memorabilia donated by customers over the years.

“It’s going to break my heart to take them down, but they’re going to go back up somewhere,” Blair said.

Blair said she’s visited several potential locations around the Bowling Green area, looking for a new spot that will retain that personal feel.

“I’m definitely going to miss this old place,” Blair said. “It’s my home away from home.”

Blair said it’s hard to imagine leaving the memories, but that in some ways the restaurant had outgrown its home. She said she doesn’t want her operation to get too big, but that it would be nice to have more space for her staff and customers.

“I think I deserve it,” Blair said. “This place is old, I practically rebuilt this building.”

A new location could offer more room for dining and parking, both of which were limited while adapting to COVID-19. Blair said social distancing restrictions led the restaurant to add both drive-through and walk-up windows, as well as outdoor seating space in the front parking lot.

COVID-19 also led Blair to pull her sister Teresa out of retirement for help around the diner. She said that after around two years, Teresa was inspired to begin another restaurant in Smith’s Grove, Grammie’s Home Cookin’.

Blair’s other sister, Melissa Hayes, owns and operates Melissa’s Country Café at 7493 Russellville Rd, near Rockfield. She expects both of her sisters to adopt some of her kitchen and wait staff until the new ConCon’s location gets up and running.

Blair said that ConCon’s has also become a hub for present and former WKU students. She said that WKU film students frequently use her restaurant as a setting for video projects, and graduates will make a stop when they visit Bowling Green.

Blair said the restaurant had become so popular that customers would see it full and drive past. This led her to implement a pager system, which would offer patrons the ability to wait in the car for a table to open when weather restricted outdoor seating.

Every year, Blair puts up a Christmas tree in the restaurant to collect extra tips so she can give her kitchen staff a Christmas bonus. This year, she said she put the tree up early, and that customers have been donating more than normal, alongside giving extra tips to waitstaff.

Blair said that customers have also offered boxes, trucks, trailers and anything else they can provide to help with the moving process.

“I can’t tell you how blessed I am, and flattered that so many people love this place,” Blair said.

Blair’s daughter also posted a GoFundMe campaign on Nov. 24, which shared a message from Blair and “the ConCon’s Crew” and thanked patrons and supporters for “prayers, sympathy, and support.” As of Dec. 8, donations to the GoFundMe totaled $866 across 11 donations.

Blair was initially told she would have to vacate the property by Dec. 11, but the new owner, Ali Aldulaimi, allowed her to pay to stay an extra month because she hadn’t yet found a new location.

Blair said this most recent property sale was the second since the restaurant’s founding, and that she had been told she would receive the first option to purchase the property both times, though she never did.

Aldulaimi said he plans to move his pre-owned car business, Speed Auto Sales Inc., onto the property, a choice Blair says her customers have questioned. There are at least 15 used car lots on Russellville Road just between WKU’s campus and I-165.

Aldulaimi said the purchase from the previous owner, Jason Mills, was strictly business, as he rents his present property at a premium.

Blair said she’s trying to use up as much as she can of her perishable stock to simplify the moving process, and that she plans to keep ConCon’s open until Wednesday, Dec. 10.

“I’m going to be just where I need to be,” Blair said. “Just kind of trying to sit back and let God figure it out.”