Sean C. Morgan
Longtime downtown business owner Rita Houston has announced that she is closing her shop, Rita’s Relics, at the end of January to allow her and her husband, Steve, more time to spend with their children and grandchildren, her father and a gold claim in Nevada.
Rita’s Relics, which sells a wide variety of antiques and collectibles, has been operating for about 15 years at 1045 Main St. in conjunction with Houston’s Oregon Prospecting business, which sells supplies for prospectors.
Houston said she plans to keep Oregon Prospecting open online, and is working on a possible local outlet to continue to provide prospecting supplies to locals and visitors to the area.
“We came in here looking for nightstands,” Houston said of her store location. The Houstons had just moved to Sweet Home from Reedsport and Steve had accepted a job with White’s Electronics.
“We wandered through here, it was floor-to-ceiling, rows upon rows of items,” Rita Houston said. The store was called Affordable Furniture. Owner B.J. Fox asked what they were looking for. The Houstons told him, and he asked, “Why not buy the business?” which was for sale.
At the time, Houston was working with the developmentally disabled with the School District in Reedsport. Today, she works part-time with the developmentally disabled through Renew. She had already started her prospecting business, and she was thinking of finding a place to house that enterprise.
Steve Houston’s father was an auctioneer, and he already knew antiques and collectibles, Rita Houston said. They decided to go for it and purchased the store.
“There’s been a few rough times,” Houston said. “But the good times outweighed the bad.”
The Houstons met some of their closest friends through the business, she said. Those are friendships they’ll take with them no matter what they do.
As owners, they’ve been fortunate, she said. They’ve watched many businesses come and go, and their shop is the oldest second-hand shop in town.
“We’re proud to say, we made it,” Houston said. “We’re choosing to move. We’re not forced to.”
Rita’s Relics will close on Jan. 31. For now, the store has set clearance prices, up to 50 percent, except on mining supplies and detectors or consignment items.
The store has been busy since she announced the closure, Houston said, but it has plenty left to sell, with more stock still in storage.
Oregon Prospecting will offer Christmas specials, she said. She will continue to sell online, and she will continue to be a dealer for White’s Electronics, a Sweet Home metal detector manufacturer.
Eventually, the Houstons plan to sell their house here and return to their farm on the coast, where she will care for her father, Houston said. Their gold claim in Nevada is beginning to produce. They also want to be more mobile.
“I haven’t been able to get there in two years,” Houston said. Steve Houston has, and she is tired of seeing the photos instead of being there.
She also hopes to finish her second book about metal detecting from a woman’s perspective. She previously wrote a book called “How to Pan for Gold: The Basics.”
The Houstons also have 10 grandchildren, all living in Washington, Rita Houston said, and they’re missing them.
“You’ve got one shot,” she said. “Now it’s time to move into a new phase in life.”