THE DOOR swings open, the air bringing with it the weight of the people coming and going. Some step inside briskly, scrubs rustling as they approach the counter. Others move slower, distracted, pausing just inside the doorway as if recalibrating between two worlds — the hospital across the street and the steady warmth of Trade Winds Subs & Deli.
For 12 years, the rhythm has remained unchanged. Some return daily, drawn by habit and their favorite menu items. Others disappear for a time, only to find themselves back again, not just for the food, but for something harder to name — a place where they are remembered, where they don’t have to explain.
As the rush slows, Barbara Tolbert steps out from behind the counter, her eyes scanning the dining room. She stops at one table and asks about a regular’s medical recovery and at another to check on someone she hasn’t seen in a while. She listens, nodding in understanding, leaning in to be sure she hears despite the multitude of conversations around them. Whether customers are hurrying to work or taking their time, they know they are seen.
That connection goes both ways.
When the COVID-19 pandemic threatened to close her doors, Tolbert never asked for help — but her customers gave anyway. She made a few calls.
“I’m not asking y’all for money, but will you call some of your friends and ask them to support my business?” she asked.
They showed up. Customers helped however they could — one gave $500 twice, another handed her $1,000, saying, “You take this money and do what you want.” She used it to send food to the emergency room workers.
It happens like that at Trade Winds — Tolbert gives, and people give back. People come from all over, not because they can’t get a sandwich closer to home, but because this place is more than lunch.
“I got a doctor — he retired to Charlottesville but still calls me asking, ‘You got some chicken salad for your honey?’ If he don’t come, he sends his wife.”
Some places you pass through. Others pull you back. Trade Winds carries people here, over and over — not just for the food, but for Tolbert, for the comfort of being remembered.
Like family, she doesn’t have to ask where they’ve been. She notices who hasn’t come in for a while. When a former cancer patient stopped showing up with his family, she sent his son home with soup.
“Take this to your daddy,” she told him. “Tell him it’s from me.”
Cancer runs in her family, so she understands the fight. That’s why she’s made it a tradition — when a customer finishes treatment, their next meal is on her.
“It means a lot to them,” Tolbert said.
Like the winds that name this place, Tolbert is constant. People come and go, but she remains — a fixed point, a place to return to.
“I will always be there for them,” she promised, “no matter what — good or bad.”
Whether they return tomorrow or the winds of life bring changes that take them longer away, Tolbert will welcome them as if it were yesterday — just like family. GN
Trade Winds Subs & Deli is located at 2201 Langhorne Rd., Lynchburg. Call (434) 528-3218 for more information.
