photo by: Shelley Hanson

Robert Strong, co-owner of the SMART Centre Market, points to where a large tentacle will be displayed on a wall of the science store’s new downtown Wheeling home in the former Goodwin Drug Co. Building at 1410 Main St. A grand opening is planned for mid-July or sooner.

WHEELING — The new Smart Centre Market location is tentatively slated to hold a grand opening about mid-July, said Libby Strong, co-owner of the interactive science store.

Strong said this week that there are a few final touches that need to be completed along with a final inspection of the building before it can open to the public.

“We’ve got some neat things. We’ve got some larger replicas that we didn’t have before,” she said. “We have a neutradon; these were found in West Virginia, pre-dinosaurs essentially.”

In addition to many existing fixtures and shelving, the center also found a “treasure trove” of antique and vintage items in boxes left behind by the former Goodwin Drug Co. that operated there for many years.

Many of these items, including displays of sunglasses from the 1960s, makeup, lipstick, fingernail polish, pens, and old over-the-counter medicines, will be on display for the public to see. Most are so well preserved that they almost look new.

“The area that was the narcotics cage is our office. There is a big safe back there that is the bathroom,” she added. “We purchased the building with the inventory that was still left here. All of it was old inventory and we were of the assumption that it was broken or whatever, but it’s like pristine new stuff.”

Strong said there are some duplicates of items that she plans to keep behind a counter and sell to people who are interested in them.

After doing some research on many of the items, Strong learned that bar codes did not begin appearing on items for sale until 1973.

About 85% of the items at the store do not have bar codes, she said, and likely predate 1973.

Strong is also working on a history display that talks about the history of the Goodwin Drug Co. and the history of the Smart Centre, which has been in operation for 30 years.

The previous owners, the Albers family, had been in the building for many years and operated their wholesale drug company there. Goodwin Drug Co. was in business until 2017. At one time, Goodwin Drug Co. supplied drugs and other items to drug stores across the Ohio Valley and into Pennsylvania.

For many years the SMART Centre at Centre Market operated in a rented building beside the Centre Market buildings in Center Wheeling.

After the building was put for sale, the Strongs decided to purchase the former Goodwin Drug Co. building at 1410 Main St. It is situated beside the Wheeling Artisan Center and across from the Public Market.

They have done much work to the inside and outside of the building. One of the finishing touches on the outside is the center’s famous T-Rex head hanging from a second-floor window for all to see.

Strong said they also plan to have the ice cream shop area open for business during the grand opening as well. It will sell Kirke’s Ice Cream.

She noted a soft opening is tentatively slated for July 9 and a grand opening is tentatively scheduled for July 19.