For decades, Trails North has welcomed travellers coming into Whitehorse along the Alaska Highway, but next Tuesday, the doors will be locked for good.

Murray and Donna Swales have made the decision - a difficult one, but the right one, according to Murray - to close their business.

The popular truck stop - which includes a cafe, an off-sales and a gas bar - has been up for sale for about a year now, but the right buyer hasn't turned up, Murray told the Star Thursday.

The Swales made the decision to sell after a year of unsuccessfully searching for a full-time manager.

After that, they asked their daughter Katy to come in and help them run the place while they looked for a buyer.

Although some interested parties have come forward, no one offered a price that matched the property's value.

"That was Plan A," Murray said of an offer for the business, buildings and three acres of property made Monday. "Plan B was to shut it down, and we're moving to Plan B."

Donna's health is poor, he said, and the couple has decided they have to switch their focus from work to health right away.

"If there's no quality of life - if you're sick and you're putting all your energy into work - then you have to look at why you're doing it."

He said the couple watched a pair of close friends make a different decision, a decision to keep working, and watched them waste away.

"That's not going to happen to us," he said.

Although their lack of management combined with Donna's health is the main reason behind their decision to close, there are other factors.

The Western Canadian Lottery Commission's recent move to take all Keno monitors away from lottery vendors was a hard blow to Trails North. Not because of the lost income, Murray said, but because it took away something that was important to customers.

"It was like an extension of their living room," Murray said of the cafe. "When they'd come in, they'd play Keno, have a cup of coffee or a meal. It was a gathering place for a lot of the older folks out here."

He dismissed the commission's assertion that the monitors contribute to gambling addictions.

"That's ridiculous," he said.

His attempts to keep the monitor up were disheartening, he said.

"I met with their board and tried to explain my position but they'd already made their decision - I could see they didn't really listen to what we had to say."

So the Swales are retiring.

Telling their 16 full-time employees about the decision was the hardest part, Murray said.

"They took hearing it about as hard as we took it telling them," he said. "They're the ones who made it happen here. It's their place as much as it is ours."

At least one of the cooks will continue to use the cafe's kitchen for his own catering company, Murray said, and the whole business will be ready to go for anyone who wants to step into the Swales' shoes.

"We'll keep a couple people on here to help us clean up," Murray said. "Then we'll all just be moving on."