WEST UNION - The intersection of Northwest Cornelius Pass and West Union roads has become a hot corner in Washington County. New businesses and homes have turned this rural crossroads into a bustling commercial center.

The Sweet Oregon Grill first brought the lunch and dinner crowd to West Union Corners in 1996 when Connie Wilson opened the Sweet Oregon Co. Farm Fresh Market, predecessor to the restaurant.

But a different crowd now arrives Friday nights, and they come by the droves to buy and sell.

Keith and Robin Gordon operate the Estate Sales Unlimited Auction Center, which typically attracts 200-250 people eager to buy someone else's discards ranging from old family Bibles to antique furniture, coin collections to pickup trucks.

"Our auction is one step up from a garage sale," says Robin Gordon. "But unlike garage sales, everything has value. We don't sell Goodwill throwaways. And everything goes to the highest bidder. There are no set prices. Everything is auctioned on a no-minimum, no-reserve basis."

"People bring in everything-furniture, boats, guns, cars-anything they can sell for income. A lot of them are selling out, moving away because of the poor economy," says Robin Gordon.

The Gordons moved their auction house from Tualatin Valley Highway to the West Union location in January 2003 after the West Union Supermarket closed.

The 6,000-square-foot building, with its spacious interior, storage rooms and loading docks, is a perfect facility for auction sales, she says.

The Auction Center provides room for consignment items, which the Gordons weren't able to handle before.

They earn a 25 percent commission on consignment items they sell.

The Gordons, who travel through Oregon auctioning estates, realized some customers preferred to deliver their own estate items to a central location rather than sell them at the home or farm they were vacating, says Keith Gordon.

Buyers are invited to preview merchandise at the auction center beginning at 5:30pm, then return for the auction, which runs from 6:30 to 11pm.

But as early as Wednesday, buyers can survey the next weekend's collection on the Gordon's Web site, www.estatesalesunlimited.com.

The site, which has 60 to 100 photos of auction items, receives 1000 to 1600 hits a week.

While merchandise is displayed orderly throughout the building, the center is reserved for the 200-some chairs where bidders sit to listen to Robin's auctioneer's chant, enticing those with money to buy, buy, buy.

"You have to know how to read people, add a little humor and some stories to keep them interested," says Robin, who grew up in an auctioneer family. Her father, Al Beyer, ran the Progress Auction where the Washington Square shopping mall exists today.

Some customers make an evening of the auction. "If they stay past 11 p.m., we hold a drawing and give away $50," says Robin.

"It's a fun place to be. It's friendly and entertaining. The sellers win, the buyers win," she says.