Only weeks after the Coos Bay Rite-Aid officially closed its doors, the Oregon-based retail company Rife’s Home Furniture swept into the Bay Area and purchased the downtown building.

The company, which owns four furniture stores in Eugene, Sutherlin and Springfield, plans to open its doors Feb. 1, after repainting and putting down carpet in the former pharmacy, at 187 S. Second St. Owner Kevin Rife said he wanted to expand his company and Coos Bay won him over.

“Our advertising comes to this area already, and I can’t go very far north, south or east of Eugene because of my family,” he said. “We decided to come out west to Florence or Coos Bay. We found this building here in downtown and it seemed like a great fit.”

Rife said he looked at the former J.C. Penney Co. building and a location in the Coos Bay Bi-Mart shopping center, before selecting his current location. The Penney’s building needed too many renovations and the corner building at Anderson Avenue and Second Street seemed to get more traffic than Bi-Mart, he said, and seemed like an ideal spot.

“My son-in-law, Matt Cummings, always wanted to live on the coast and he’s going to move out here to manage the new store,” Rife said. “We do a lot of deliveries here in Coos Bay, so we just see it as natural. We liked the size, the space and the price.”

Rife said he paid about $400,000 for the building, which he described as a “good deal.” He plans to make a lot of improvements to the building and wants to fix up the exterior.

“We want to paint the outside but we can’t until the summertime,” he said. “I also plan to do the awnings. Those are pretty awful.”

The new store is expected to employ about seven to 10 local people and pay living wages, Rife said. The store also will be hiring employees for the sales department, which will pay “a lot more than just a living wage,” he added.

Coos Bay Mayor Jeff McKeown said he was glad to see a new company come into the area and develop the empty building so quickly.

“We always welcome a new business, especially to our downtown area,” he said. “One of my priorities is working to revitalize our downtown.”

McKeown said he’s been speaking with state officials about securing some grants to help Coos Bay’s downtown attract even more businesses, but hasn’t nailed down anything just yet.

The owner of the Coastal Grind Cafe, 190 Central Ave., Reshma Mukhram, said she is excited to see a new business that could bring more foot traffic down the block to her corner restaurant.

“A lot of downtown businesses are closed on weekends, but the few of us who aren’t don’t see many customers,” Mukhram said. “I’m thinking that Rife’s will be open on Saturdays, and Bay Moss Studio and some of the antique shops are open on the weekends, and so is my cafe.”

Mukhram said few people explore downtown and they don’t know about great businesses just down the street. She said she hopes more customers in downtown will benefit all the business owners.

The final closure of Rite-Aid several weeks ago marked another death knell for a business located in downtown, but Rife said the city is a growing place and he isn’t worried about his investment. Staying in town while the initial construction begins on the new store, the Eugene-native said he’s been warmly welcomed by the community.

“I’ve been here a lot lately. It seems like the city is bustling and the people have been really nice and receptive to us coming,” Rife said.

Ecstatic is more like it, said Katherine Hoppe, executive director at the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce.

“This will increase traffic downtown in a positive way. If you give more options for people to walk around and shop, I think they’re willing to do that,” Hoppe said. “Someone like Rife’s is going to be a tremendous asset to the community and to Coos Bay.”

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