Graham Belger, owner of The Goodz, stands in the front of his souvenir store on Fort Myers Beach. Belger is rebuilding his souvenir and hardware store across the street, after it was leveled by Hurricane Ian four years ago. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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Graham Belger, owner of The Goodz, stands in the front of his souvenir store on Fort Myers Beach. Belger is rebuilding his souvenir and hardware store across the street, after it was leveled by Hurricane Ian four years ago. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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A new Goodz store will be going back up on Fort Myers Beach, as rebuilding begins on the lot where the hardware and souvenir store stood on Estero Boulevard. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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A new Goodz store will be going back up on Fort Myers Beach, as rebuilding begins on the lot where the hardware and souvenir store stood on Estero Boulevard. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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A new Goodz store will be going back up on Fort Myers Beach, as rebuilding begins on the lot where the hardware and souvenir store stood on Estero Boulevard. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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A new Goodz store will be going back up on Fort Myers Beach, as rebuilding begins on the lot where the hardware and souvenir store stood on Estero Boulevard. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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Graham Belger operates a Love Boat ice cream shop on property off Estero Boulevard next to The Beach Bar. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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Graham Belger operates a Love Boat ice cream shop out of a trailer on property off Estero Boulevard next to The Beach Bar. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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Graham Belger operates a Love Boat ice cream shop on property off Estero Boulevard next to The Beach Bar. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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A new Goodz store will be going back up on Fort Myers Beach, as rebuilding begins on the lot where the hardware and souvenir store stood on Estero Boulevard. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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The Goodz owner Graham Belger in front of his hardware trailer across from where his former hardware and souvenir store stood before being ruined by Hurricane Ian Belger is in the midst of rebuilding his store. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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The Goodz owner Graham Belger in front of his hardware trailer across from where his former hardware and souvenir store stood before being ruined by Hurricane Ian Belger is in the midst of rebuilding his store. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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The Goodz owner Graham Belger in front of his hardware trailer across from where his former hardware and souvenir store stood before being ruined by Hurricane Ian Belger is in the midst of rebuilding his store. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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The Goodz owner Graham Belger in front of his hardware trailer across from where his former hardware and souvenir store stood before being ruined by Hurricane Ian Belger is in the midst of rebuilding his store. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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The Goodz owner Graham Belger in front of his hardware trailer across from where his former hardware and souvenir store stood before being ruined by Hurricane Ian Belger is in the midst of rebuilding his store. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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The Goodz owner has been operating his hardware store, ice cream shop and souvenir store out of trailers on Estero Boulevard, near The Beach Bar as he works on rebuilding his store that was destroyed by Hurricane Ian. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
A year ago, Graham Belger wasn’t sure what was going to become of The Goodz, his hardware store/souvenir store and ice cream shop on Fort Myers Beach that was leveled by Hurricane Ian four years ago. Belger was operating his business out of a group of trailers across the street near The Beach Bar off Estero Boulevard.
Town of Fort Myers Beach officials were getting mixed signals last year from FEMA about what kind of trailers were allowed for businesses and private properties in the town. Belger was caught up in the middle of what appeared like what might be the end of the many makeshift trailer businesses operating on Fort Myers Beach since Hurricane Ian landed and upended the lives of so many.
Belger was sorting out whether he could operate at all. Town of Fort Myers Beach Manager Will McKannay, town staff and FEMA eventually reached an understanding which would allow the trailer businesses to continue operating as long as they could show the town they had plans to rebuild permanent structures. Town officials worked with Belger to give him a temporary permit as he worked on those plans.
Belger replaced the trailers he had on site with those could be hooked up to a truck and hightailed off the island in the event of another oncoming hurricane, to meet FEMA code.
He submitted the plans and won approval from the town for a rebuild.
With financing in place, heavy machinery have been hard at work, driving in pilings where his store used to sit, for a foundation for a new hardware store he hopes to have open next year.
“I finally got it all figured out,” Belger said while sitting outside in between his trailers on a sunny September day.
Belger is almost like a Hurricane Ian refugee, operating out of the makeshift trailers underneath shade sails sweating out most days under umbrellas as he oversees the business traffic and gets to keep an eye on the construction on the other side of the street just a couple blocks north of the Diamondhead Beach Resort. “It’s been extremely difficult dealing with the elements, with the heat and rain,” he said. Add to that a summer he said has been “extremely slow.”
Belger called Fort Myers Beach “a ghost town” after students go back to school in August. “The rest of the year we have done pretty well considering,” he said.
He is assisted by a staff that helps him in operating the multiple shops. He opened the trailer shops in April of 2023, a little more than six months after Hurricane Ian briefly took away his livelihood.
His new building will be elevated to meet FEMA guidelines, two stories over parking. He will have a souvenir and hardware store on the second floor with Love Boat Ice Cream. On the third floor, he is planning an arcade game room, “something for families to do,” he said.
“It’s been a roller coaster,” Belger said. “It seems like it’s one hurdle after the next.”
Belger hasn’t been phased by the reviews he has gone through to get his project approved. “I am very persistent, I know I can get it built. I can get it to work and bring the beach back,” he said. “I am not giving up. That’s for sure.”
Fort Myers Beach Observer Editor Nathan Mayberg can be reached at NMayberg@breezenewspapers.com
