MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. — Businesses at John's Pass were in rough shape after Hurricane Helene swept its way up the Gulf Coast last September.
Months later, many businesses have rebuilt and are opening back up like The Spice & Tea Exchange.
In their 18th year of business, Lisa Coleman loves seeing customers come back after Helene destroyed the shop.
“We got about four and a half feet of water in here,” she said.
Thrilled to open, Coleman said they wanted to make sure the store would be better prepared if another storm comes.
So with the new store comes innovation.
“Thinking ahead when we did our rebuild, a lot of our displays are movable,” Coleman said. “So now we’ve kind of revamped how we built the store back.”
The damage from Helene is something they had never dealt with before.
That’s why the start of hurricane season on June 1 is at the top of their minds.
“We feel ready as far as physically being able to do stuff but I think the bigger part is emotionally and mentally,” Coleman said. “We feel like we’ve been through this now. We kind of know how it feels.”
Hurricane season lasts through November.
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