When Becca Goossen saw the property, only a few blocks from her house, she knew this had to be the place.
Never mind the dirt floor.
Whether or not she was aware of it at the time, the home of what will soon open as Goodfortune Market enjoyed a long history as exactly what Goossen had envisioned: “a community-friendly food store close to home.”
Originally built in 1928, the structure that stretches half the block from Maupas Avenue to East 40th Street had long ago housed a bakery and a candy shop, among other businesses that strived to serve the day-to-day needs of Baldwin Park and Live Oak residents.
One of the earliest concerns was a daily grocery owned by William and Julia DeLoach, who also lived a few blocks away from their mom-and-pop shop.
“This neighborhood has a long history of having quality food resources that are walkable,” said Goossen. “That’s what a lot of this district was built for.”
“I really don’t think I’m ‘inventing’ something,” she added humbly. “I’m just a steward of this legacy. I’m trying to bring back what we were always supposed to have.”
In a few short weeks, Goossen’s dream store will open for real.
BRINGING HER VISION TO HER NEW HOMETOWN
Goossen moved to Savannah in June of 2022, having lived in New Orleans for the previous decade. She was “ready for a change” but “didn’t want that much of a change,” which meant remaining in the South.
Over those 10 years, she visited Savannah often and, like so many of us transplants, fell under the city’s seductive spell.
“I just love the atmosphere here,” said the Sonoma, California, native who moved to Michigan during her high school years. “Savannah’s a beautiful town that has a lot to offer.”
“In my opinion, the Coastal Empire is one of the most beautiful places in the country, so I was always really fascinated, really attracted, and I really wanted to be a part of it,” she added.
She brought with her a career in food and beverage, particularly in coffee-centric capacities, managing cafés and working at roasteries.
During COVID, Goossen “ended up using a lot of [her] skill set at Whole Foods” for a year and called it “a really eye-opening crossover, seeing how the ‘other side’ of the food industry, technically food retail, was similar and also different from food service.”
A year at Hotel Peter and Paul followed, where Goossen oversaw the luxury inn’s café and a.m. services departments and where she adapted her Whole Foods experience to a hotel setting, catering to “guests who were looking to have similar experiences of being in the restaurant but wanted to take those back to their rooms.”
By the time she relocated to the 912, Goossen had her business plan in hand.
“I had this really clear vision,” she shared, “and I had used my extra time during the pandemic to start writing it.”
She worked at The Grey for nearly two years and was in town for six months before she truly started looking for the perfect property.
“I was kind of curious to see what Savannah had to offer that might be beneficial to my business dreams,” Goossen recalled. “When I found the building, that’s when I kicked it into high gear and started pursuing this.”
SMALL GROCERY, BIG RENOVATION
“It’s really hard to find a small grocery that’s just ready to go,” Goossen said. “My idea is not a new idea, but there are not a ton of them still around.”
She continued, “I wanted to build something that would be exactly what I wanted so that I could get the most out of it.”
In December of 2022, Goossen saw the Waters Avenue property that had been reimagined by Briana Paxton (Hestia Community Partners LLC), earning Paxton a Historic Preservation Award.
“I think when you’re looking at a blank slate, there’s definitely a lot of room for imagination,” Goossen said and laughed, thinking back to the bare-bones building. “It was a great opportunity for me to do a custom build.”
A month later, she started filing paperwork and moving forward with Goodfortune, and come June, she signed the lease at the same time that a new floor was poured and some walls were rebuilt.
“It was a fully open building,” she said. “There weren’t any real dividers between what is now three retail stores.”
This past December, Emily Hinners opened Cast & Grey Botanical one door up, and Cindy Otis opened The Stacks Bookstore a few weeks later. Goossen’s market makes for three women-owned businesses under the same reconstructed roof.
Goodfortune’s rough third of the property amounts to a little over 1,600 square feet, all of which had to be built out, and Goossen credited Scotty Snipes (SHC General Contractors) and Kevin Rose Architecture.
“It was really fun,” she said of the design-and-build process. “There was a lot of playing around in the space and being able to adapt where we wanted the sinks and the hook-ups for the espresso machine.”
“Everything,” she said of what is new in the space, slowly emphasizing each syllable.
The walls were finished early April, and the summer months have been spent putting in counters and cases, which means that once POS systems are installed, inventory will start filling the shelves.
“At least by mid-August, you’ll be able to come inside and shop with us,” Goossen said.
STAPLES AND SUNDRIES
“Ultimately, we are a retail grocery,” Goossen said. “We are a community-friendly food store close to home for easy daily shopping. We’re where convenient options meet quality products.”
“We are going to have a lot of your dry goods. We also embrace quick-service coffee, drip coffee, espresso, and we’re going to do made-to-order bagel sandwiches,” she added. “Some really good food that you can eat on your way home, while you’re carrying groceries.”
By design, Goodfortune Market’s shelves will be stocked with wares from several local food producers, notably Denise’s Desserts, Greg’s Famous Hot Sauce, and Isreally Hummus, without being exclusively a local food store.
The produce section will feature fresh fruits and vegetables whose provenance will be familiar to fans of the Forsyth Farmers’ Market, coming from Gannon Organics, Vertu Farm, and others cooperative with GrowFood Carolina.
Some of the dry goods will come from Marsh Hen Mill (Edisto, South Carolina), standing alongside condiments, pasta, rice, and other pantry essentials that bear big brand labels.
A dairy section will be filled with butter, cheeses, juices, milk, and yogurt, and a deli case will offer prepared salads and “meal prep options, helping people have healthy, easy, nutritious meals at home to compliment whatever dry goods you get,” per Goossen.
“Of course, we’re going to have all of the staples, the things that you need in the neighborhood to be able to eat fresh quality foods that are convenient to pick up on a daily basis,” she explained.
“I just want there to be another option,” Goossen said of GoodFortune Market’s ethos. “These big box grocery stores are great, but if they’re the only place that you’re able to get food, it’s not a real choice.”
“If there were more small markets in more neighborhoods,” she continued, describing the still largely extant world model that was once the fabric of American food consumerism, “that would normalize small daily grocery shopping, as opposed to the only model of food retail being in these large corporate centralized distribution settings, which don’t necessarily recirculate wealth within your own community.”
“I’m not trying to put Target out of business,” Goossen said with another laugh. “I’m just trying to say that there are other choices.”
Goodfortune Market (2413 Waters Ave.) will soon be open seven days a week (7 a.m. to 7 p.m.).
This article appears in Connect Savannah I July 2024.