SPRUCE PINE, N.C. — Four businesses in Spruce Pine, destroyed in Helene's flooding, recently moved into a space called Market on Oak.

The new space is giving business owners and their vendors a new beginning in their hometown.

What You Need To Know

  • Market on Oak is now home to four local businesses that were destroyed during Helene

  • Treasures in the Pines owner Cheryl Buchanan says her 6,000-square-foot storefront was filled with water during the storm. Her vendors lost everything

  • The Mitchell County Development Foundation made the building available for the four businesses to reopen as they rebuild

  • The owners said it is giving the town a little more hope moving forward into the new year

Owning a business in downtown Spruce Pine has always been a dream for Cheryl Buchanan.

“I've always loved Spruce Pine,” Buchanan said. “My dad was the manager at Belks here for years, and my mama was part of the Woody family that did the Woody chairs. They even had one that went to the White House.”

A few years ago, Buchanan finally was living her dream, when she opened Treasures in the Pines, joining other bustling businesses downtown.

“We had a lot of tourists and new restaurants,” Buchanan said. “And we were just, we were booming.”

But on Sept. 27, Helene washed those dreams down the river.

“It was shocking,” Buchanan said. “Really shocking.”

Buchanan walked us down by her old store front, where vendors could set up and sell their wares.

“There was hardly anything salvageable,” Buchanan said. “I had vendors that had windows and the water had just swirled in the glass.”

"It was hard. It was really hard,” Buchanan said. “Because something you put your heart and soul in for almost five years, you know, gone.”

In November, Buchanan and three other businesses were given a glimmer of hope, when a local nonprofit opened the doors at the Market on Oak to allow the businesses shuttered by Helene to have a new community space to re-open.

Kimberly Wise is another shop owner who moved into the space. She had just bought Spruce Pine Florist in July of 2024. 

“Well, when I first went into the store and saw all the devastation, I kind of went into shock,” Wise said.

She said her shop was fully flooded, leaving nothing left to salvage.

“It's hard because I have friends, you know, that I went to school with my entire life, but they moved away for college. And, you know, they’re sympathetic, but you truly don't know unless you were here when it happened,” Wise said. “And it's still, it's still going on.”

Even though Wise said she could not be more happy for the opportunity to move into the Market on Oak, it hasn’t come without a few challenges. 

“We're also not used to having the other businesses, which it's actually been quite fun,” Wise said. “But it does take some adjusting to.”

Still, Wise said the opportunity has given a new start for these business owners and their vendors. And she’s hopeful once again for the future of downtown.

“Spruce Pine is going to be the same once again,” Wise said. “It may not look the same, but you know, all of the people are still there, that's so vital to this community and that we're not going anywhere. I think that it gives Spruce Pine some hope.” 

The group of business owners were able to come together with the help of the Mitchell County Development Foundation.