By Mike Harris – Special to The Alpine Mountaineer

Editor’s note: This is the second of what will be ongoing reports about the rebuilding of Goodwin and Son’s Market.

After a series of weather delays, including more snow, Goodwin and Son’s Market has finished demolition work inside the market, sorting the wreckage and removing tons of debris, said VP and General Manager Mike Johnstone.

“The weather really pushed us back, but now we’re 100 percent done with all of the demolition and debris removal,” he said. “Now we move to the planning phase for rebuilding.”

The Goodwin’s Market clock tower is still standing.

The roof of Goodwin & Son’s Market completely caved in on March 1 from the massive amount of snow that collected on top of the building.

“We’re still trying to put together the team,” Johnstone added. “We thought we had an architect, but things didn’t really connect, so we had to start fresh. Now we have two architects we like and we are negotiating.”

Key to the negotiating, he added, is finding an architect who can work with the Goodwin family’s target date of having the store reopen by spring 2024.

Without identifying either of the architectural firms, Johnstone said both firms have engineers who would be critical to rebuilding.

Johnstone added that one of the two architects has a lot of experience in designing grocery stores.

“You have to have a team of engineers because there’s a lot involved,” he said. “Areas such as electrical, plumbing and structural design. The one architect we are talking to has a great team of engineers, and his structural engineer lives in Lake Arrowhead.”

Everything inside the market is now gone; the space is ready for rebuilding.

The engineering expertise will help bring back key areas to Goodwin’s Market, including the kitchen, the bakery, the deli and the meat department.

“There is so much refrigeration that we need, and a ton of electrical and plumbing infrastructure,” Johnstone emphasized.

A decision about which architect and his team to select should come later this week, he added.

The county, including 3rd District Supervisor Dawn Rowe, remains very supportive.

“The county has assured me that, as soon as we get our (design) team together, they will be here to review our initial thoughts,” he said. “We have a lot of ideas. Everyone is very involved. It (the new market) will be better than anything around.”

Johnstone said community support for the Goodwin family’s other two markets, one in Redlands and one in Riverside, has been wonderful.

“We have seen an increase in business,” he said. “I was at our store in Redlands the other day, and I saw two of our Goodwin’s Market customers shopping there. It was really great to see them.”