FARMINGTON -- A home-furnishing and flooring store that has served home and camp owners in Carrabassett Valley and Rangeley for nearly 30 years has opened a showroom in Farmington.

It is one of several projects planned for the downtown neighborhood. A block away, Farmington businessman Jon Bubier proposes to put up a commercial building with two retail shops on the street level and a possible pub on the ground floor at the corner of Front Street and Narrow Gauge Square. The corner lot now has a vacant storage building.

Birchwood Interiors, owned by Earl Morse of Carrabassett Valley, is sharing floor room with Byron "Buzz" Davis' Riverbend Property Management office at 140 Pleasant St. Davis has a home and apartment-rental business and also manages rental properties.

"We offer everything having to do with home furnishing -- bedding, drapes, furniture, a huge selection of all types of flooring, kitchen cabinets, granite countertops, and we also do renovations," Morse said.

The idea to branch out to Farmington makes sense, Morse said, since the business has always had customers in the area. Birchwood's main showroom is in Village West on Sugarloaf Mountain in Carrabassett Valley and its Rangeley store is on Main Street.

The Birchwood Interiors showroom has a model living room and bedroom, sells home décor items and has samples of tile, wood, laminate and vinyl flooring. The store will be staffed, by appointment, by Farmington-area interior designer Lisa Judkins.

Davis said he sees the economy slowly improving and that this was a good time for Morse to branch out to the Farmington market.

"They want to build their client base here, and we will give it a try," Davis said.

Morse also said he is seeing an uptick in his business as more homes are under construction this spring in the Rangeley and Sugarloaf resort communities.

Pleasant Street, which changes its name to Front Street at the intersection with Broadway, is a vibrant but small commercial area a block from Main Street and anchored by The Granary Restaurant, Narrow Gauge Cinema, Up Front & Pleasant Gourmet and the Better Living Center, with a half-dozen smaller shops.

Another new tenant will be the University of Maine Cooperative Extension for Franklin County, which will be leasing 1,800 square feet of office and classroom space in the other side of Davis' office building.

Bubier said he purchased the small Front Street lot last year with the intention of developing it, because of the neighborhood's potential.

Betty Jespersen -- 778-6991

bjespersen@centralmaine.com