FMBGN-BIZ-The Goodz-From Hardware to Heart on Fort Myers Beach

Resilience, community, and the sweetness of ice cream amid reconstruction—this is the story of Graham Belger and The Goodz on Fort Myers Beach.

Graham takes us on a journey through his roots as an island native who transformed a run-down hardware store into a thriving local business, only to face Hurricane Ian's devastating impact. With remarkable candor, he shares how his entrepreneurial instincts led him to partner with Love Boat Ice Cream, creating a unique business model that serves both practical needs and sweet cravings for locals and tourists alike.

The heart of this conversation reveals how small businesses become lifelines during disaster recovery. When major retailers remained closed after the hurricane, The Goodz stepped up as the first place where islanders could find cold drinks and essential supplies. Now operating from trailers while awaiting rebuilding, Graham maintains the same level of inventory and service despite significant challenges. His family's deep connection to the community—including his father who works as a handyman late into the night helping neighbors—exemplifies the interdependent nature of island life.

What stands out most is Graham's unwavering optimism despite personal sacrifices, including selling his beloved fishing boat to keep the business afloat. His story captures the essence of Fort Myers Beach's recovery: perseverance, adaptation, and maintaining the spirit of paradise even when the physical landscape has changed. Visit The Goodz for hardware needs, cool off with one of their 45 ice cream flavors, and witness firsthand how supporting local businesses strengthens the fabric of this resilient beach community.

The Goodz
Graham Belger
1698 Estero Blvd Fort Myers Beach, FL 33931
[phone]

Ft Myers Beach-Good Neighbor
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbor
podcast, where the sun's alwaysshining and the stories are even
brighter.
Each episode we bring youcloser to the neighbors, local
legends and beachside businessesthat make Fort Myers Beach the
slice of paradise we all love.
Pull up a beach chair, grab adrink and let's meet the people
who make this island feel likehome.
We want to send out some islandlove to Eric Tibbs from Edward

(00:21):
Jones State Insurance USA andHome Well Care Services Fort
Myers.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Welcome to Fort Myers Beach, good Neighbors Today we
have good neighbor Graham Belger.
Belger.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
Belger.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Belger from the goods , eh, but welcome.
So excited to get to learn alittle bit about you and share
with our listeners a little bitabout the goodz.
For the people that don't knowabout the goods, right, why
don't you explain a little bitabout what you do?

Speaker 3 (01:02):
Well, I grew up here on Fort Myers Beach.
I bought the goods.
It was formerly called Jay'sGeneral Store.
I bought that in 2013.
It's been a hardware storegoing back to the 50s, so it's a
pretty well-establishedhardware store.
When I bought it it was kind ofa little bit run down and

(01:23):
needed some love, and so webought that and brought it back
to life, added a lot more of thegifts and retail items, things
like that All the beachnecessities and then I noticed I
needed to have something to getpeople in there at nighttime.
So that's when I was on LoveBoat Ice Cream.

(01:46):
I was bugging them for probablyfour or five months and they
finally agreed to let me selltheir ice cream and that
immediately pretty muchquadrupled my nighttime sales
Once you try Love Boat Ice Creamyou've got to come back every
day of your vacation basicallyKids begging for souvenirs or
whatever else.

(02:06):
So it just really helped withsales and no, it was a great
thing and, you know, built thebusiness for about 10 years
until our buddy, ian, came along.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
And kind of hit the reset button for me.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
So originally, why, fort Myer, you're not from here
originally?

Speaker 3 (02:25):
you.
No, I'm born and raised on theisland, really okay, wow, it's
hard to find people like you,but they're right there I was
gonna say why fort myers beach?
But hey, it makes sense if youlive here yeah, yeah, my family,
my parents were from wisconsin,but they moved here.
I think it was like 79, andthen they had me in 83 here, so
ah, very nice where, where in?

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Wisconsin are they from?

Speaker 3 (02:46):
Sheboygan area.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Okay, my parents were born and raised in Milwaukee.
I was born in Wisconsin, okay.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
I'm a cheesehead, though I'm a big Packers fan.
Right right, we all love ourbeer sausage cheese and Packers.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Right, that's what it's all about yes sir.
So and you had mentioned alittle bit earlier but we all
have challenges or storms thatwe go through.
Is there something that's maybepositive, that's come out of
what's happened here?

Speaker 3 (03:15):
You know, just getting to know the community
better and being able to see howmany people I've been able to
help, you know, with just havingthe store open after the storm
and just saving people a lot oftime and energy and stress to,
you know, not fight the trafficand all that sort of thing and
get little things that they need.
So, no, it's been good.
It's been obviously a biglearning experience for me and

(03:39):
it hasn't been easy, that's forsure.
But you know we're gettingthere, we're getting close to
rebuilding, and so I'm realexcited about that.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, and it's been a process.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
Right now you're across the street from where you
should be right yeah, yeah,basically catty corner to my lot
where I'm at um, scott andjackie, uh, from the sea gypsy.
They've been awesome, um, youknow, having them as landlords
and everything's worked outgreat there.
Um, they've been amazing um.
So, yeah, it's just uh, we'refinally getting to the uh, I

(04:10):
think I can see the light at theend of the tunnel.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
There you go you also touched on the sense of
community and what this has doneand bringing people together
and helping each other out onthe island, which is in itself,
great a lot of people.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
You know it's been hard for a lot of people and
it's been, uh, very challengingfor everyone and just to see
everybody kind of come togetherand work together to rebuild and
, um, you know, I feel likethey've supported me in a huge
way and I've supported them, soit's really been good.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
Are there certain things that maybe stand out as
far as if people want to helpgive back to the community or
help support the community?

Speaker 3 (04:51):
It's hard to say, see , I get teared up about this
stuff.
No, I don't know anything inparticular, just everybody.
I mean everybody's been awesome.
There's so many differentpeople that come into the store
and everybody always has, youknow, really positive things to
say about me and the businessand just you know the island
coming back to life.

(05:11):
So it's.
I don't know necessarily how topinpoint anything, but you know
it's just been a really goodexperience.
It has been Through all thestress and everything else.
There's been a lot of good tooand it's been.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
It's been a long time coming, but every day you see
something new popping up.
It's been changing on thepositive side right?

Speaker 3 (05:30):
yeah, no things are.
The island's coming back tolife.
You know, the beach whale'salmost finished.
We got the beach bar here.
These guys are awesome, so it'sbeen great to get to know them
and be neighbors with themAbsolutely.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
So owning a business can be very demanding of your
time, oh yeah, you live inSouthwest Florida.
So what do you enjoy doing whenyou get a moment of free time?

Speaker 3 (05:49):
Well before, ian, I was doing a lot of fishing.
You know, it was great.
Life was good.
I had the business running likea well-oiled machine and you
know I was finally to the pointwhere I could actually enjoy,
you know life and do things Ienjoyed.
I love fishing and golfing,things of that nature, and but
yeah, the past three years it'sbeen just on the grind.

(06:09):
You know I haven't had muchtime to do anything.
Had to sell my boat, you know,pay the engineers and get
everything, keep it rolling.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
So, you know you spend a lot of time in the
trailer out front here.
Oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:21):
Yeah, it's been many, many hours out in the trailers
there and you know we had thebigger trailer to begin with for
the first two years and FEMAkind of forced me to get rid of
that back in May.
So that was a major adjustment.
Having to come up with anothertemporary setup.
You know it's not been easy butwe, you know, luckily I awesome

(06:41):
employees and we were able topull it off.
And the town, you know thetown's been great.
They've been on my side thewhole time.
You know FEMA's been the issue.
It hasn't been a town.
So no, everything has beengoing good and, yeah, just
looking forward to rebuildingthe breaking ground over there
and getting it started.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
I hear you, so obviously you're not at the size
that you're used to, but youstill have enough supplies.
What kind of things can peopleexpect if they come by?

Speaker 3 (07:10):
Yeah, we've got all the necessities.
You know I don't have, you know, the big items like Home Depot
and those places carry, but I'vegot all the necessities as far
as any plumbing, you know,fittings, all that kind of stuff
that anybody needs to finish ajob or to start a job.
We've got good quantities ofeverything, All the plumbing,
electrical, you know, tools,fasteners, super glue.

(07:34):
We sell a lot of that.
It seems like you know just allthe necessities.
Duct tape, lots of duct tape,just all the necessities.
Duct tape, duct tape, right, alot of duct tape.
But yeah, no, I mean we've gottwo 24-foot trailers now that
are fully stocked with all thehardware supplies, and I've got
another trailer with all the10-foot sticks of pipe and we
have bags of concrete and mortarmix and you know all that kind

(07:55):
of stuff.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
But we've got a pretty well covered.
Yeah, you've got a goodinventory.
And you got the ice cream there, right oh?

Speaker 3 (08:00):
yeah, you can.
We've got about 45 flavors ofLove Boat ice cream, so that's a
big hit with, I mean, the guysworking too.
They come in to buy somethingand they'll grab an ice cream
too, to cool off a little bit.
And obviously the tourists lovethe ice cream.
So we do pretty well atnighttime with the ice cream and
stuff.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
That's good, what are your?

Speaker 3 (08:19):
hours typically now.
Um, right now we're 8 am to 10pm every day.
Um, obviously now it's back toschool so we've noticed a pretty
big drop off in customers.
Um, pretty quiet here now.
It'll be that way for the nextmonth, month and a half like a
ghost town here.
So you know nighttime hours wemight start closing around nine

(08:39):
o'clock or something.
But, um, yeah, I try to.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
You know we've got long hours because you never
know, when something might breakor you need to come and grab a,
you know a plumbing fitting orwhatever.

Speaker 3 (08:51):
So we've helped a lot of people in that regard too.
Just grabbing stuff late night.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
I love it, love it, perfect so is there one thing
you wish our listeners knewabout the goods that maybe they
wouldn't be too familiar with?

Speaker 3 (09:03):
Not necessarily.
It's just a good family-ownedbusiness.
Like I said, I'm a local.
I mean that used to be mysaying before the storm If we
don't have it, you don't need it.
We literally carry, I mean, andeven in these trailers people
are very surprised at what wehave in there.
I still have the little giftshop trailer with all your
toiletries and medicines and allthe necessities shampoo,

(09:25):
shampoo things.
People forget toothbrushes, youknow, snacks, drinks.
We were the first ones downhere on the island after the
storm where you could actuallycome and buy a cold gatorade or
something you know.
There was no, 7-elevens were allgone exactly publics took a
while to reopen, so we were kindof the only thing here for to
get you know things at thebeginning.

(09:46):
So that that was kind of cool.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
So if our listeners wanted to stop by check you out
or needed some plumbing fixturein the middle of the night, how
do they find you?

Speaker 3 (09:56):
Well, I mean, I guess I kind of let my website go
away.
I need to redo that.
But we're on Facebook and stufflike that.
I'm pretty good with checkingthat.
If you ever send a message I'mquick to respond, that sort of
thing.
My dad's a handyman maintenanceguy here on the island so he's
pretty well-known around hereand loved, and I see him driving

(10:19):
around doing stuff at 10o'clock at night too to help
people out.
So you know people, they canget a hold of us and we're here
to help, so we don't mind that.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
And you can't miss it .
You're right out in front ofthe beach bar here on the
Surabula Bar.

Speaker 3 (10:32):
Yeah, you can't.
It's hard to miss, Althoughit's been tough since we had to
get rid of the bigger trailer.
A lot of people they got usedto seeing that double wide
trailer there and my sales aredown since we had to switch it
over.
A lot of people think thehardware store is gone.
They don't realize that I stillhave everything I had there and

(10:53):
these smaller trailers, and soI've kind of got signs all over
the place and some people don'treally read, so they'll pull in
the driveway and then they'llstart backing out.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
I have to run out there and chase them down what
are you looking for?

Speaker 3 (11:08):
And it's hardware.
It's gone.
I'm like no, it's still here.
So it's been a challenge, butyou know I'm used to it by now.

Speaker 2 (11:16):
There you go.
Well, hopefully we can help getthe word out.
Any last words for ourlisteners today.

Speaker 3 (11:27):
Well, just stop by the goods, get some ice cream,
grab your hardware supplies,obviously.
Come to the beach bar, have abeer.
They're rocking it over here.
That's one good thing, too,about being here I always get to
hear the music it's always gotgood music so it's in that mood,
yeah it's always a good vibe.
So, yeah, just support thebeach businesses everybody.
We need it.

Speaker 2 (11:41):
So that's about it very good, graham, it's been a
pleasure getting to know you.
Thank you for being such a goodneighbor here on on the beach.

Speaker 3 (11:47):
We'll see you out here on the beach soon, right
yeah, definitely, maybe fishing,right yeah, I can't wait for
that.
All right, take care, allrighty, thank you.

Speaker 1 (11:54):
Thanks for tuning in to the Fort Myers Beach Good
Neighbor Podcast, wherecommunity meets paradise.
If you loved what you heard,share it, stay salty and keep
being a good neighbor.
Also, to nominate your favoriteneighbors, local legends,
heroes or island businesses tobe on the show, go to
CaboWaboJim.
com.
That's CaboWaboJim.
com, or call 239-427-4100.

(12:17):
We want to send out some islandlove to Eric Tibbs from Edward
Jones State Insurance USA andHome Well Care Services Fort
Myers.
They are the businesses thatallow us to share the soul of
our community with everylistener.
From local stories to thepositive vibe of island life.
Here's to celebrating all thatmakes Fort Myers Beach the slice
of paradise we all love.