Raena Herzog checks on baby chicks in Brim’s Farm and Garden.

Brim’s Farm and Garden, a well-known family-owned business in Astoria for over three decades, has new ownership.

Raena Herzog, an employee at the store for several years, took over the business at the end of November.

Brim’s, started by Mike and Linda Brim in the 1980s, has long served farmers, gardeners and pet owners, offering animal feed, garden supplies, nursery stock, fencing, pet food and more. Or, as Herzog calls it, “a mom and pop Tractor Supply.”

When Mike Brim, who worked as a logger, was laid off from his job, he and his wife sought out buying a feed store. They eventually decided to open their own shop on the U.S. 101 Business loop south of the Old Youngs Bay Bridge, where they have been ever since.

Opening as primarily a feed store that also sold fruit, the business has grown and evolved over the years. Their sons, Jason and Michael Brim, have also been involved in the business.

When Linda Brim offered her the opportunity to gain ownership, Herzog jumped at the chance.

“I already have a really great relationship with most everybody that comes in here, but (I look forward to) just continuing to build that relationship,” she said.

Originally from Hood River, Herzog had an early background in farming and working with animals.

“I spent a lot of time with my uncle, who raised me, picking up feed, inseminating cows and riding horses,” she said. “I did the whole fair life growing up.”

Herzog and her husband, after honeymooning in Seaside, moved to the North Coast in the mid-2000s. Herzog said she always had the idea of possibly opening a feed store.

“The smell of the feed, the smell of the leather, it just drives you to want to open a feed store,” she said.

A friend of Herzog’s who worked at Brim’s convinced her to apply for a job there in 2018, and Herzog has worked there ever since.

Outside of relying more on technology, Herzog said she plans to keep the name and business model relatively the same.

“It’s been this way for 37 years, I don’t feel it needs to change,” she said.

Herzog thinks the atmosphere of the store is what makes Brim’s unique.

“I just welcome everybody,” she said. “It’s got that perfect, small-town feel and it’s what I love about it.”