Cone 9, a cookware store that doubled as a popular coffee spot, has ended a 30-plus-year business run at the Pony Village Mall in North Bend.

The store closed Saturday.

“We’re kind of scrambling because we have a group of retired folks coming in every day for coffee,” said Paul Rudder, who owns the mall with his wife, Kathleen.

Rudder said Cone 9 had made it through difficult economic times in the 1980s and he’s hoping somebody else will take over the store. He was unsure of why it closed.

Tim Thomas, who has owned Cone 9 for more than three years, didn’t return phone calls by press time.

“North Bend-Coos Bay really needs a nice kitchen shop,” Rudder said. “I think Cone 9 will rise again.”

A regular crowd comes to the mall most days for a morning dose of brew. Some of these coffee drinkers have found their way to Buzz, a 1950s-style diner, that opened in the mall on Nov. 1.

“Some of them, they come to me,” said owner Max Douk, who also owns the mall restaurant, Mama Mia’s. “I sell coffees and flavored coffees.”

Buzz occupies the space previously taken by the restaurant Savory’s to Go, which closed this year. Two other businesses also left the mall this year — Fiddlesticks and T-Shirt Express — but they both re-opened somewhere else.

Rudder said the mall is doing well despite the troubled economy.

“We are very, very fortunate,” Rudder said. “Macy’s, JC Penney, Ross — they have really adjusted their business to accommodate this economic crisis.”

The chain stores have added new merchandise to broaden their customer base, according to Rudder. They’ve also had lots of sales.

The Rudders put the mall up for sale in June due to health reasons. The mall has seen new businesses come in this year, too, with The Human Bean and Pet Mini Mart occupying separate buildings in the parking lot.

Starting in late 2007, the Rudders began refurbishing the mall and some of its outbuildings. Renovations to the mall cost in the “six figures,” and included a new vestibule and airlock enclosure, a paint job inside and out and to the roof, new siding, carpeting, comfortable seating and Wi-Fi.

“For the time being, I think we’re in pretty good shape,” Rudder said.

Locally owned stores have managed to stay afloat, he said.

“I’m really tickled the way our merchants are doing OK,” Rudder said. “Nobody’s getting rich, but if you’re surviving, you’re paying your bills and making ends meet, that’s fabulous.”