Downtown Spruce Pine provides financial assistance as businesses look to rebuild
Noreen Nickolas
MNJ Correspondent
Despite the massive losses, the difficult task of raising restoration funds, and concerns about future flooding, several downtown business owners are optimistic about the future and eager to rebuild after Helene.
Chris Nash, owner of Mitchell Lumber Company in Spruce Pine, spent several hours sheltering with his wife and two children in his warehouse during the storm until the back wall fell in.
“I was probably about six feet away from a large piece of concrete that fell in front of me,” said Nash. “As the wall fell down, all the water on the road started to come through into the building. … We had about an 8-foot waterfall, 8-foot wide, for at least an hour.”
The building he has been renting since 2020 was not insured and replacing his equipment and inventory, he said, will cost about $80,000. To help with the recovery he sells merchandise on his Facebook page, has had many in the community help with cleaning up, and has received grants. He has also started a GoFundMe page to accept donations.
Even though Nash doesn’t know where the funds will come from to repair the damage to the building, leaving this location is not an option.
“I really can’t move because I won’t ever get what I have (elsewhere),” Nash said. “There’s never been a flicker in my mind that wanted to stop Mitchell Lumber Company. … Me and my kids and my wife, we are Mitchell Lumber Company.”
One of the grants that Nash and many other downtown businesses received came from a fund that Downtown Spruce Pine raised.
“We released the first round of fundraising about a month and a half ago,” said Spencer Bost, executive director of Downtown Spruce Pine. “We were able to raise $164,000 and release it to downtown businesses. Any business that applied in the downtown district got approved and received a split of the money. We did it as equitably as possible.”
Since the first release, Bost stated, the organization is preparing for another round. The organization’s board is meeting to discuss when to release another almost $90,000 they have raised. Once they meet with the executive committee they will “most likely have an announcement next week with information for round two of our grants,” Bost said.
Lower Street restaurants
Other downtown businesses are also struggling with finding rebuilding funds.
Hef’s Restaurant opened 13 years ago on Spruce Pine’s Lower Street (Locust Avenue). According to owner Jason Hef, equipment and supplies — not counting food and perishables or remodeling the interior and exterior — will cost more than $100,000.
Hef’s has already received a few grants and donations from the community, but this is not enough.
“The main thing is the availability of capital,” Hef said. “Once we start getting into some capital funding we will be able to move forward a little faster and then start rebuilding. I feel like if we could just get enough to get the interior rebuild done and get some equipment back into the house we could open up on a small scale.”
Also, not having control over the resources needed to open makes estimating a timeline for opening difficult.
“I’m hoping maybe in the next coming months we can get an estimated opening date. We’re waiting on availability of material and contractors,” Hef said.
And while Hef does not fear another flood, he did have concerns that residents would give up and move. But now it looks like people aren’t moving out of town, he said.
“We are going to retain our community and our citizens and they’re going to stay in Spruce Pine,” he added.
For many owners the amount of work and money needed to replace what they have lost is incalculable.
DT’s Blue Ridge Java lost everything. And recovery is requiring a complete rebuild of the space that owners David and Tricia Niven have occupied for over 20 years.
“When you consider the losses . . . a good couple hundred dollars of equipment and like supplies and walls, all of that is definitely like $500,000, if not more,” said Taylor Trabold, manager of DT’s Jr. Java and the Nivens’ daughter.
In addition to the new expenses, they are still paying off bills they owed before the flood, Trabold said.
“We’re currently paying off equipment that doesn’t exist anymore and that floated down the river,” she explained. “The bill’s still there because we purchased it right before the storm.”
Seeking out a number of revenue streams, such as loans, grants and fund-raisers to pay the recovery costs, is never-ending.
Trabold said they received a grant from the Downtown Spruce Pine’s grant program and are looking into a Small Business Administration loan and other grants.
They recently disabled their GoFundMe page and are now using their website to streamline fundraising.
“We upgraded our website and added the online store where you’re able to buy coffee and t-shirts and coffee mugs and everything online and ship nationwide,” Trabold said. “When we did that upgrade to our website it allowed us to be able to take monetary donations through our website.”
The coffee shop has temporarily opened up DT’s Jr. Java in L&L Furniture Company on Upper Street (Oak Avenue) where volunteers serve coffee and sweets and sell retail merchandise.
“It’s nice to have a place where we can still welcome our customers and … keep those relationships strong,” Trabold said.
If everything works out, Trabold said, they may be able to open in their original location by late spring or early summer.
Despite the risks, Trabold said, they are not fearful of rebuilding.
“They (her parents) fell in love with this location. We are not going to even contemplate that fear,” Trabold insisted. “We’re here for the long haul.”
A winding road to recovery
Some owners have learned that going with the flow has become a necessary survival skill.
Cheryl Buchanan, owner of Treasures in the Pines, says she had been at her Lower Street location “just a few days short of five years,” when Helene hit and destroyed the building.
Since then, Buchanan has set up shop in the Market on Oak building in Spruce Pine. The building she was in before the storm and the building she is currently in, however, have been sold, so she doesn’t know where she will go to next.
“I’m looking at several options right now,” Buchanan said. “They’re on Lower Street. They’re not the size I had before but they are options,” she said.
Before Helene Buchanan had four employees, but she is the only one running the shop now.
“I can’t afford to pay anybody,” she said.
To help with the recovery effort, Buchanan said she has received a grant from the Downtown Spruce Pine’s grant program and has applied for other grants as well.
Looking ahead, Buchanan refuses to think about the potential of future flooding.
“Do I have fears of it happening again? No,” she said.
With help, Buchanan’s plans are to stay put.
“You know we want to stay in Spruce Pine. We want to bring it back and rebuild it,” she said. “But it’s gonna take a lot of local support.”
New directions
Other owners are actively changing course.
Instead of opening a storefront, Kimberly Hageman, owner of Poppy’s Wildcraft, which was in downtown Spruce Pine for seven years, is working out of her home at 159 Pine Ave. in Spruce Pine. She is offering pick-up and delivery and carries many of the items she sold in the store.
Hageman plans to open a pop-up shop and will set it up at Burnett’s Country Store and Rocks and Things on Oak Avenue. Opening dates are yet to be determined, but customers can call 828-275-2755 for pick-up or delivery.
While several businesses are committed to staying, a couple will not be returning.
According to Bost, the following businesses are also staying in downtown: El Ranchero, and Appalachian Hat Company & The Mad Hatter Tavern. In the space formerly occupied by Bangkok Station Thai and Sushi Bar a new restaurant has been advertised: “Thai Table Restaurant and Sushi Bar, new owners, new menu, new vibes.”
Businesses that will not be returning include: The Majestic Music Shop, owing to the death of its owner Angela Buchanan, and Live Oak Gastropub.
In a Jan. 24 Facebook post, Gastropub Chef Brian Myler and Deanna Buchanan discussed the struggle to find a viable location: “I have been getting a lot of messages about us relocating Live Oak Gastropub to Linville Falls. That location for us has been put on hold. We have a great relationship with the property owners and look forward to hopefully opening our place there in the future. Unfortunately, the state has a lot of red tape to get through for any building to open after the hurricane.”