For some small-business owners in Western North Carolina, it was a December to remember.
After Tropical Storm Helene wiped out the usually bustling fall tourist season, they say, holiday shoppers turned out in big numbers in the final month of 2024. It wasn’t enough to make up for the lost fall revenue, but it provided some financial stability heading into 2025.
“October and November were dreadful,” says Barbara Hughes, owner of Narnia Studios, a downtown Hendersonville gift shop. “But it was like a light switch went on on Dec. 1, and it continued all the way until Dec. 31. December was spot on and perfect.”
Other merchants say the holidays weren’t quite so merry and bright. While sales were markedly better than in October and November, they fell short of a typical holiday shopping season.
“I think we were all kind of hopeful, with Pollyanna lenses on, that it would be right back to the way other Decembers were,” says Scott Counce, who co-owns Black Mountain’s Merry Wine Market with his wife, Katherine. “But that just couldn’t happen this year. It was a season of really good days, not really great days.”
But he agrees with other business owners that local residents stepped up to support businesses during the holidays in a big way.
“We wouldn’t have survived without that support,” Counce says.
Adds Leslie Logemann, owner of Highland Books in Brevard: “We saw a lot of customers who came in and would specifically say, ‘I am here to shop local and support local businesses.'”
‘Streets were packed’
Black Mountain’s annual Holly Jolly event marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season in the town.
“The intent is to bring people in to downtown, to the historic area, to all the stores there,” says Melinda Hester, executive director of the Black Mountain Swannanoa Chamber of Commerce. “The stores open their doors, they stay open late, they have hot chocolate, cookies, candy, other things for the people.”
Holly Jolly has been around for three decades, but its “shop local” message resonated stronger than ever this year as town residents looked for ways to support struggling businesses, she says. The event was held Dec. 6.
“The streets were packed. People were in the shops, they were all buying stuff,” Hester says. “Many, many local people said to me, ‘I am not ordering anything online, I am not going anyplace else, I’m going to buy all my Christmas gifts in Black Mountain.”
Along similar lines, Brevard’s Shop Late, Shop Local initiative encouraged local shopping by having about 30 businesses stay open until 8 p.m. Dec. 12-14 and Dec. 19-21. The businesses offered exclusive promotions, holiday treats and more. The event was first held several years ago.
“This was certainly the most robust rendition of this event to date in terms of the level of participation, sales, promotions, music and refreshments,” says Nicole Bentley, executive director of Heart of Brevard, one of organizers of the event.
Bentley says the overall holiday season was a success in the Transylvania County city, with a number of downtown businesses reporting they met or exceeded prior sales numbers. Some even had their best holiday sales on record, she says.
Highland Books was one of the businesses that had a better than typical December. Owner Logemann, who helped bring back Shop Late, Shop Local after it was halted during the COVID-19 pandemic, says local shoppers were a big reason the bookstore racked up strong holiday sales.
“I’m just so grateful,” she says.
She also credits the return of some out-of-town visitors as well as creative promotions that encouraged sales. For instance, she says, the store offered free shipping on any online orders worth $25 or more.
“I’ve had conversations with other business owners about how it all felt kind of very post-pandemic-y because we were all pivoting and trying to do different things to keep business going and staff employed and all that kind of thing,” she explains.
She acknowledges not every business was in position to thrive during the holidays. “We have the luxury that as a bookstore, we not only have a consumable good that people can come and get, but we also have something that’s easy to ship,” she says.
Narnia Studios owner Hughes says her business experienced a strong December and that downtown Hendersonville had plenty of foot traffic during the holiday shopping season. Hughes and other Hendersonville merchants say that, in addition to locals, many customers made day trips from places like Greenville, S.C., Spartanburg, S.C., and Charlotte.
“I just absolutely had the best customers all December from the get-go,” she says. “They were very purposeful, wonderful visitors who were like, ‘I’m gonna shop in your store because I know everybody’s been hit really hard, and we want help you and not a mall or Amazon.’ I can’t tell you how that warms your heart after a couple of really hard months.”
‘A very different year’
But other merchants didn’t experience that level of success.
Scott Counce, co-owner of Black Mountain’s Merry Wine Market, says December sales were lower than in previous years. The shop has not been fully stocked since Helene because many of its distributors aren’t back to full operations yet. And a lot of the small local businesses that provide gourmet goods for the market’s shelves had to halt production while Asheville didn’t have potable water into mid-November.
Additionally, the store’s cash flow was hurt by the lack of business in October and November.
“I find myself apologizing to people every single day in the shop that we don’t have the stock that we normally have,” he says. “I tell people, ‘I’m sorry, it looks like we’re going out of business, but believe me, we’re not. It’s just a very different year, and we’re having to make allowances for it.”
Without the gourmet goods, for instance, the shop was limited in its ability to make gift baskets, normally a popular item around the holidays, he says.
Matthew Hickman, co-owner of Hendersonville’s Underground Baking Co., says most business owners he talked to were pleased with how December went. Even so, he says, for many the numbers fell below previous holiday seasons.
“There definitely continues to be an effect from this, and there will be for some time,” he says.
Making it through the normally slow months of January-March will be a challenge for Counce and other business owners.
“Our October income is what we use to keep the lights on, keep employees paid and keep the rent paid through January, February, March, April; well, that’s all gone,” he says. “We’ve had to dip into the line of credit and basically take out a loan just to make sure we’re going to get through the first couple of months of winter.”
‘People have missed us’
The return of tourists in the spring will be key to economic recovery in places like Black Mountain, Hendersonville and Brevard that didn’t sustain major physical damage from Helene. And business owners are confident that out-of-towners will be back.
“I think that people have missed us, especially who had plans for coming in the autumn and didn’t get to,” says says Narnia Studios owner Hughes. “I definitely think they’re going to inundate us from April 1 on.”
Heart of Brevard recently launched its 2025 event lineup and plans to market the events heavily, Bentley says. “We want to help reinforce that message that Brevard is open for business, it is a great place to visit and certainly by early spring, we will be well-positioned to welcome visitors and families to downtown and countywide,” she says.
Highland Books owner Logemann agrees.
“We had such an amazing December that I feel like we’re in a good position to battle whatever snowstorm or whatever hits us in January, February,” she say. “I feel really optimistic that we’re going to just be right back on track come spring, whether we’re ready for it or not.”
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