NATCHEZ — The outlook is bright for The Malt Shop, in more ways the one, longtime employee Katie Ernst said.

After a car crashed into The Malt Shop the night of July 15, the restaurant was left to operate using plywood in place of windows for weeks.

But Thursday, glass finally replaced the wood, said Ernst, 19, who said she has worked at the shop off and on since 2007.

“I’m so happy to be able to see my customers again,” she said. “It’s a completely different theme in here. I was getting tired of looking at the plywood.”

A picnic bench that sat in front of the shop for years — and that generations had carved their names into — was also destroyed in the crash, but Ernst said redwood has been ordered so a new bench can be built.

A new topping dispenser also has to be purchased, she said, but besides those things, The Malt Shop is just about as good as it ever was. “It’s not the same,” Ernst said. “It will never be the same. But it will almost get back to normal.”