SMITHFIELD - Johnston Health will close one of its eateries, saying its new Smithfield cafeteria has drawn away too much business.

The Cyber Café, a coffee bar and sandwich shop in the Johnston Medical Mall, will shut down April 1 after about six years in operation.

Hospital officials said sales at the café had been falling and that the slide quickened with the Feb. 1 debut of the cafeteria inside the hospital's new patient tower, which is directly across Bright Leaf Boulevard from the Medical Mall. In January, daily sales were about $340. In February, they fell to about $320.

The café, which offers computer use and Web access to its customers, has three employees, all of whom will transfer to the new cafeteria, said Jim Perpich, the hospital's marketing chief.

With high ceilings and an array of new menu choices, the new cafeteria put a dent in the Cyber Café customer base as soon as it opened, said Derek Slavin, director of food services.

New Internet-enabled mobile phones and more ubiquitous Web access have also taken away some of the café's draw, Perpich said. "We have the new cafeteria, and most of the customers seem to be going toward it," he said.

Slavin said the recession and the new competition had caused a significant drop in profits.

Meanwhile, the hospital's food services as a whole have doubled sales since last year, to about $3,000 per day, Slavin said.

While the Smithfield hospital's old cafeteria offered a few entrees and a basic breakfast, the new cafeteria has a salad bar, a grill, a soup station and even a demonstration cooking area.

The new cafeteria, with easier traffic flow and better selection, is a stress reliever for harried employees, patients and visitors, Slavin said. "It's a 180-degree turn, that's for sure," he said.

Some people aren't happy about the café's closing, though.

"We don't like it at all, at all," said Lora Millard, an employee of HealthQuest, the hospital-owned fitness center in the Medical Mall.

She comes twice a day, she said, because of the convenience and customer service. Plus, her 30-minute lunch break doesn't leave enough time to get the shuttle over to the hospital's cafteria.

Janice Lockamy of Clayton said she hates to see the café go. She's come twice a month during her sister's chemotherapy, and liked the atmosphere and convenience.

Amanda Dunston, supervisor of the Cyber Café, said she understands Johnston Health's logic but has a fondness for the place. "We try to make it family friendly," she said, adding that people are "not just a patron, a customer, but part of the family."

Dunston doesn't want to lose touch with her regulars and doesn't plan to. "I'll try to find y'all," she told customers last week.