Goodwin’s Market throws a party – Community celebrates Goodwin’s grand reopening

By Mike Harris

Special to the Alpine Mountaineer

Friday, Aug. 23, was a day for the Goodwin family finally to smile and celebrate a grand reopening of Goodwin’s Market, to remember the tragedy and the destruction from March 1, 2023’s incredible snowstorms and recall the concerns of whether the broken pieces could ever be put back or, hopefully, rebuilt even bigger and better than ever.

“I have been asked to bring you back to March 1, 2023, the day the roof collapsed, and go through the thoughts and process that the (Goodwin) family went through,” Goodwin and Son’s Market President David Goodwin told a large gathering of friends and family to start the day’s celebration of the market’s reopening.

“We were called at 3 o’clock (on that) Wednesday morning, and when we got to the market a quarter of the roof on the northwest side had fallen into the back room, and between five to eight feet of snow had fallen inside the stock room,” he continued.

Goodwin, and his nephew, Mike Johnstone, the company’s vice president and store manager, then went systematically to the task of gathering paperwork, accounts payable and cash from the store’s several cash registers and from the store’s safe.

A county building and safety inspector quickly arrived on scene and told the men to get out of the building because in his estimate the entire roof was about to collapse.

The two men quickly fled and, just after they had exited, the entire 43,000-square-foot roof collapsed.

“Everything was crushed,” Goodwin recalled.

Goodwin said the family began expressing all the concerns, such as whether the family had enough money, and “was God telling us to move on to start another business elsewhere,” he said. “Are the county agencies going to help facilitate the rebuild, and how much insurance do we have?”

There was so much uncertainty and unknowns ahead of the family, he stressed.

“Needless to say, our family was devastated and a little bit lost,” he explained. “So, we decided to pray and ask God for some answers. The first answer to prayer was in less than two weeks when our insurance came through with enough money to get started.”

Goodwin said the pain of the loss was not over yet.

“As you can see in the demolition pictures, there was nothing left,” he said. “All of my dad and mom’s antiques, the two big fish tanks, the neon signs, and all the work the family and all of our employees had put into each department, all the sweat and tears over the years was being hauled out in pieces and pushed out the front with bulldozers.”

At times quite emotional about what he was remembering, Goodwin said the family got over the shock of what had happened and was determined to get started again.

“To this day, I don’t think I would have given the OK if it hadn’t been for this community’s response to our tragedy,” he added. “The decision was made mostly because of the amazing response from our community here.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goodwin’s remarks were followed by additional details of what it took to rebuild from Mike Johnstone, Goodwin’s vice president and store manager.

Johnstone thanked Supervisor Dawn Rowe for her support and the many county agencies who saw the need to expedite the process to deliver the permits needed to rebuild, and to do it as quickly as possible.

Johnstone also thanked the private sector for delivering architectural plans and to turn those plans into results.

Goodwin and Johnstone also thanked Martin Goodwin, David’s brother and Johnstone’s uncle, for bringing a bigger and better look to a new Goodwin’s Market, including a new Swiss theme for the exterior. It was Martin Goodwin who came up with plans for new inside and outside seating arrangements for shoppers and guests.

What followed next were remarks from Congressman Jay Obernolte, Assemblyman Tom Lackey, state Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh’s aide, Armando Martinez, and 3rd District County Supervisor Dawn Rowe.

After a ribbon-cutting ceremony, watched by 120 members of the Goodwin family, the public was offered a range of food items, including free grilled hot dogs, free mini ice cream cones, food samples from a variety of vendors, free raffles, live music and items on sale for 78 cents, which represented Goodwin Market’s 78 years of doing business in the Crestline community.