Roby’s Furniture of Tillamook will be opening a new store in the space formerly occupied by Hunt’s Home Furnishings in Astoria.

Hunt’s inventory will be liquidated starting Sept. 29, ending a dark chapter in the company’s 55-year history.

Last month, the owner of the Hunt’s building, Mike Brownlie, served Hunt’s co-owner Tom Thornburg with a notice of lockout after the business had fallen behind more than $330,000 on its lease payments, according to Brownlie.

Brownlie bought out a bank loan on the business and took control of the remaining inventory Monday.

Brownlie, a former owner of Hunt’s, said he paid $71,000 of the loan payments on the business to help keep the store open earlier this year. In the past few weeks, he spent $30,000 on furniture to satisfy customer purchases that hadn’t been delivered, he said.

“For those, we decided to buy the product and give it free to the customer,” he said.

Overall, $87,000 in furniture purchases were outstanding when he locked the doors last month, Brownlie said.

Hunt’s had a $1.1 million loan on the business, and Brownlie, who sold the business to employees through a stock option in 2004, had pledged the building as collateral on that loan. Brownlie said he had to pay off the remainder of the loan to get his building back.

In August, Thornburg told The?Daily Astorian the collapse of the housing market took a serious toll on Hunt’s, as did the opening of Home Depot in Warrenton. He also said the business was overvalued from the start of the stock option purchase, setting the new owners up for failure.

But Brownlie said management problems were also big contributors to the company’s downfall.

Craig Harmel, a 22-year employee of Hunt’s who left his job in 2007, will manage the new store. He was one of several employees included in a stock option purchase of the business in 2004. The Employee Stock Option Plan was supposed to give a number of long-time employees an ownership stake in the company, Harmel said, but in retrospect it marked the beginning of the end for Hunt’s.

In 2004, the staff bought the stock option with a loan that they were to pay off over time with earnings from sales. Harmel said the other employees were let go or forced out one by one soon after the purchase agreement was signed. A lack of “checks and balances” allowed the company’s debts to pile up as business struggled and employees left, he said.

Brownlie said he opted to put Tom Thornburg in charge of management, and now recognizes that was the wrong decision.

However, both Brownlie and Harmel say they are excited about having Roby’s Furniture move into town.

The Tillamook-based furniture store has been in business since 1950 and also has locations in Florence, Lincoln City and Newport. The company, Lewis Home Source Inc., also sells television and appliances and has been family owned since 1957.

Hunt’s and Roby’s have a lot in common, Harmel said. They belonged to two of the same buying groups and each has a long history of local ownership.

“They are a thriving business,” said Harmel. “They have four stores. This will be their fifth. They have great family values. They’re incredible people to work for.”

Roby’s co-owner George Lewis, who shares ownership with his wife, Cindy, said his family has almost reached the fourth generation of ownership and has made substantial changes to the business to stay afloat during the recession. Making smarter inventory purchases has been key to the store’s success, he said.

“It’s going to be a good thing for this community to have,” said Brownlie.

“I think Roby’s is going to be a great asset. They’ll take care of their people and their customers. That’s what grows businesses.”