Fiddlesticks Gifts has been relocated three times — metamorphosing each time — in its 28 years of business in the Bay Area.

After eight years at the Pony Village Mall in North Bend, Fiddlesticks owners Gary and Karla Rifkin want to relocate again, but are unsure about where. So the couple decided to let their customers pick the location, but any upcoming changes are staying secret for now.

“We’re really excited,” Gary Rifkin said. But, he added, “We’re not ready to release the new part of it — the new featured concept.”

The Rifkins placed an ad in The World, asking for opinions on where to move their store. Customers and those interested are asked to go to http://www.fiddlefun.com/new/ to vote. Parents of trick-or-treaters who visit the mall on Halloween also will get the opportunity to vote.

Fiddlesticks began as a gift shop in the Best Western Holiday Motel in Coos Bay in 1981. Gary, who is now a market development adviser for the Business Development Center of Southwestern Community College and Karla, a retired Sunset Middle School teacher, started manufacturing children’s educational toys the year before that.

“It’s been a learning experience,” Gary Rifkin said.

Their first store, Fiddlesticks Oregon Made and Educational Toys, was open one year when it outgrew its 300-square-foot space. Rifkin, who had always wanted to be across from the Egyptian Theatre, took the chance with a move to a 1,200-square-foot location there in 1982.

That time, the owners called it Fiddlesticks Balloons, Cards & Toys. Those were the days of the Beanie Babies craze, as Rifkin discovered when he began carrying the small plush beanbag animals. The store held a Beanie Babies days sale once a month, Rifkin said.

“We had people start lining up at 5 o’clock the night before,” he said. “It was huge.”

Successful sales of Beanie Babies led the Rifkins to another conclusion — and metamorphosis No. 2. They moved to the mall space to fill 3,000 square feet, even more room for their expanding business.

“When we learned there was that adult market, that’s when we opened Fiddlesticks Gifts, and we moved to the mall,” Rifkin said. “We wanted to grow bigger.”

Rifkin said Coos Bay’s business boom had ended and they had outgrown their space when they decided to leave the downtown district, but, “Coos Bay, over the years, has gone through some starts and stops,” Rifkin said. “The part that I miss is the visibility.”

The couple make an annual trip to Rifkin’s home state of New York, to check out the latest products, as well as the most up-to-date distribution ideas — some of them coming from street vendors.

“They put so much into their little cart,” Rifkin said. “It really takes a lot more than just putting out your items.”

Over the years, the Rifkins have taken photographs of children who have frequented their store. These days, the photos are of the same “children” holding their own children.

“It’s really connected to a couple of generations of Coos Bay people,” Rifkin said.

When Fiddlesticks was a decade old, the Rifkins celebrated by making the “world’s largest chocolate chip cookie.” Although its world status was never verified, the sweet treat, made by Albertsons, was 6-feet around.

When the gift store was 15 years old, the Rifkins put on a children’s magic show at the Egyptian Theatre.

Items the Coos Bay couple have carried have coincided with the age of their daughter, BreAnna Pineda, now of Eugene. Since the birth of their granddaughter, Ava Rose, who’s now 1 year old, they are bringing in more baby gifts.

Rifkin likes to incorporate what he teaches other business owners into his own business, and, likewise, he teaches concepts that work for Fiddlesticks at his workshops.

“Like this poll,” Rifkin said. “It has been very successful. We have people telling us what they think.”

By Monday, Rifkin said they had heard back from 104 people — six of them voting for a relocation to Eugene, one said they should go to Florence and another said they should move their business to Bandon. But, 9 percent liked the old Kentucky Fried Chicken building on Virginia Street, 11 percent would like to see Fiddlesticks back at U.S. Highway 101 in downtown Coos Bay and 25 percent wanted the business to be in the old J.C. Penney building, also in downtown Coos Bay. But, the Newmark Plaza that is just opening behind McDonald’s in North Bend is by far the first choice, at 46 percent.

“We’re working on a new location. We’re announcing it Nov. 15,” Rifkin said.

He did let out one clue of what’s to come — a holiday kiosk, perhaps at the mall or maybe even outside of the area.