COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — Schmidty’s Burgers, a mainstay of downtown Coeur d’Alene, was destroyed in a fire a year ago on Jan. 24.
“It was a shock,” said co-owner Denise Schmidt. “It was kind of unbelievable at first.”
“You could see water everywhere, the fire was crazy. You could see our cups floating down the street,” Schmidt said.
Schmidty’s was one of several businesses that burned down. The burger restaurant would have celebrated its seventh year in operation this year, but instead, they’re still rebuilding.
Nothing from their old restaurant could be saved, which made the process more difficult, but that didn’t stop the Schmidts from moving forward.
“There was no question about restarting. We just knew that that’s what we were going to do,” Schmidt said.
The new Schmidty’s Burgers building is about a mile down the road from the original.
“The building is empty and ready to go and ready to just be made into Schmidty’s.”
However, COVID restrictions went into effect soon after the Schmidts started to rebuild.
“We were expecting to be reopened by now. Right in six months we thought, ok, little setback. But we’re going on a year plus now. So that’s a little frustrating,” co-owner Nate Schmidt said.
The Schmidt’s say the restaurant is their only source of income.
The new spot is ready for construction and the family is waiting on permits from the city.
In the meantime, the Schmidt’s are keeping their customers updated on Facebook, and anyone who wants to help can donate to their GoFundMe.