One year later: Resiliency defines Swannanoa Valley business community
Smoother sailing ahead after weathering pandemic storm
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
March 23, 2021
Jay Longshore and the staff at Shirtmandude opened on Cherry Street in August after moving into the building in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo by Fred McCormick
Transition was coming for Shirtmandude in the early months of 2020, as the online retailer looked for a new location to produce its “fun shirts for weird people.” By the time the calendar turned to March, owner Jay Longshore and his team of three were eyeing the former longtime home of a used bookstore on Cherry Street.
It was the first time in the 15 years since the former advertising writer founded the small t-shirt company in Los Angeles that Shirtmandude would display their merchandise in a brick and mortar retail establishment, but as the crew prepared to move equipment from Swannanoa to downtown Black Mountain, a trickle of news about the emerging threat of a new virus was gaining momentum, and the wheels of change were turning faster than anyone realized.
The impending COVID-19 pandemic would impact businesses worldwide in the months to come, and the Swannanoa Valley was no exception, but the emerging theme a year later is one of resiliency.
“We had to fight to get this building in the first place, and we were under contract when the pandemic really hit here,” said Longshore, who is one of several entrepreneurs to open local businesses in 2020. “We were in the due diligence phase, and we could still back out, but in a really frank conversation with my wife about all of our options she said, ‘the world isn’t going to stop with all of this, it will still go on.’”
In a leap of faith, a three-month renovation was underway on an open concept that allows amused customers to browse a selection of clever t-shirt designs while observing the production process behind the counter.
“We were here working for part of that time, and we had plastic hanging down and couldn’t really see outside,” Longshore said. “We’d peek out the door every now and then just to see if anyone was even out walking around.”
By the time they opened their doors to the public in mid-August, displaying a vast inventory containing everything from images of Bigfoot looking over his shoulder while carrying a six-pack to a vintage portrait of Johnny Paycheck drinking a Coors Light under the titular line of the 1977 hit song, “Take This Job and Shove It,” Shirtmandude was in a unique position.
“During the pandemic our online orders doubled,” Longshore said. “That allowed us to put a little more money into this space, and as soon as we opened the doors we were hitting well above the numbers I knew we had to hit to keep the doors open, during the pandemic. That was really encouraging.”
Nobody knew what to expect
As governments around the world began implementing unprecedented measures to slow the spread of COVID-19, small businesses in the Swannanoa Valley braced for an impact they couldn’t possibly estimate at the time.
“Nobody knew what to expect,” said Black Mountain Swannanoa Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sharon Tabor. “We were walking into the unknown.”
The widespread closure of nonessential businesses forced local retailers to adapt quickly, according to Tabor, who guided the chamber through its own challenges.
“We were a nonessential business and, like our retail businesses and restaurants, the visitor center was closed for two months,” she said. “But, we volunteered our time to keep everything going. We filed for unemployment, but Glenda (Morrow) and I continued to do the work.”
The two employees of the chamber, which relies heavily on volunteers in its efforts to support the local economy through its partnerships with local businesses and tourism services, continued to fulfill vital obligations while Tabor was out of the office for two months and Morrow was out for nine.
“My focus at the time was getting information out to the community,” Tabor said. “We changed the format of our newsletter to provide updates on which local businesses were still operating, and we didn’t limit it to our chamber partners. We put every business in there that we knew of because we wanted to keep everyone to know what businesses were still operating what their hours were.”
The chamber employees-turned-volunteers directed local business owners to resources as they became available, guiding applicants to initiatives like the Paycheck Protection Program and One Buncombe Fund, which awarded grants to 26 Swannanoa Valley businesses in 2020, according to Tabor.
While the application period for the latest round of assistance from the One Buncombe Fund closed at the end of February, PPP loans are available through the U.S. Small Business Administration through the month of March, according to the chamber director.
“Many people have been reluctant to go back into this round of PPP funding, due to the complications they encountered during the first round,” she said. “But this round has been opened up to more types of businesses, and the application process is much more streamlined.”
Accessing available resources and adapting to a world in which face-to-face customer contact was prohibited became priorities for many local businesses. Restaurants began facilitating curbside pickup, retailers pivoted to online sales and the normally bustling downtown business district fell silent. The shutdown forced some small business owners to cut back on staffing, leading to a spike in Buncombe County unemployment rates that peaked at 17.7% in April of 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Those numbers decreased dramatically to 5.9% by January, but remain more than twice what they were 13 months ago.
Fraught with uncertainty, small business owners navigated the rapidly evolving guidance from authorities to keep their doors open, but emerging trends indicated to Tabor that confidence remained.
“Restaurants maintained largely through outdoor seating, which became a trend here many years ago,” Tabor said. “And some of those who didn’t have outdoor seating had the property to create it.”
As business and travel regulations loosened, visitors sought refuge in lower-density places like the Swannanoa Valley, according to the chamber director, who added that traffic at the visitor center in September and October of 2020 was well above 2019 figures.
“A trend across the country is that more populated areas, like Asheville and the Piedmont, were hit pretty hard, business-wise, by the pandemic,” Tabor said. “At the same time, however, small towns are being rediscovered.”
New neighbors and new beginnings
When Longshore set up shop on Cherry Street and began meeting his new neighbors, he found Shirtmandude was one of many businesses that opened at some stage in the pandemic. Right next door, Element Tree Essentials began selling its handcrafted soy lotion candles in May of 2020. New businesses were also emerging along State Street where The Enchanted Oak settled into the space once occupied by the Black Mountain Yarn Shop, which expanded in a location down the road in 2019. Next door, in a space once home to Song of the Wood, a tapas bar is currently under construction.
The new downtown shops are representative of a flurry of growth and reinvention that has changed the landscape of the business community during the pandemic, according to Tabor.
Cousins Cuban Café started serving authentic Cuban cuisine on Broadway Avenue in October of 2020. The business was one of four recognized by the Black Mountain Swannanoa Chamber of Commerce with a ribbon cutting ceremony, March 19. Photo by Fred McCormick
New businesses opening since March of 2020 include: Cousins Cuban Café, SMOKE Black Mountain, Four Paws Mobile Veterinary Clinic, Laulima Nutrition, Element Tree Essentials, Shirtmandude, The Enchanted Oak, Mrs. Ole’s Catering and Party Planning and Silverado’s.
Others, like the WNC Outdoor Collective, Excellent Seconds consignment shop and Pelican’s SnoBalls will open in the coming weeks.
Seven Sisters Gallery celebrates its recent move from Cherry Street to Broadway Avenue with a March 19 ribbon cutting. Photo by Fred McCormick
Existing businesses that reorganized, expanded, rebranded or relocated in the past year include: Seven Sisters Gallery (moved from Cherry Street to Broadway Avenue); Sassafras (expanded to renovated second floor); Goldfinch (formerly North Fork Kitchen, rebranded with new menu); Dang! Home of Mountain Fairy Hair (relocated Cherry Street); Blue Tree Global Apparel (relocated to Cherry Street); Black Mountain Kitchen + Ale House (rebranded with new menu); Foothills Land Care (expansion of Foothills Meats); Mountain Running Co. (rebranded and opened Boone location); Europa (added t-shirt and apparel printing services) and Mellie Mac’s (moved from West State Street to Black Mountain Avenue).
Town Hardware and General Store will soon offer shared office and meeting space in its newly renovated second floor rental property, Town Corner Coworking.
Four Paws Mobile Veterinary Clinic is one of several new businesses in the Swannanoa Valley to launch during the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo by Fred McCormick
“It has taken a lot of cooperation from a lot of entities for people to get through,” Tabor said. “We saw Bounty & Soul shift their entire operation so they could still distribute food safely, and some businesses took longer to reopen or found it more difficult to adapt than others.”
Nonprofit organizations, like the chamber, Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry and various church initiatives, are challenged to fill the void left by high-risk volunteers. Businesses like the Native Kitchen and Social Pub in Swannanoa and the Half Moon Market in Black Mountain closed in 2020, but the vast majority persevered.
“Collectively, we weathered the storm,” Tabor said. “We have a few broken sails, but for the most part we all jumped in our lifeboats and kept rowing.”
While the shutdown left owners scrambling to adapt, several downtown businesses reported their best months on record in 2020, according to chamber director.
“That really underscores how people are seeking out small towns,” she said. “We’ve had some businesses indicate they had their best year last year. And, with more people now working from home, we’ve actually been fielding more relocation requests than we have in recent years.”
“People really missed having that local shop”
Shaun Pope’s downtown running store, which he’s owned and operated for more than five years, is more than a retail shop for many of the dedicated runners in the Swannanoa Valley. The tradition of weekly group runs that begin and end in front the West State Street door predates the current owner, who himself is a fixture on area trails. As trail running has grown in popularity in recent years, the newly named Mountain Running Co. evolved into a central hub for the active community.
Pope, however, had reason to worry when social distancing regulations disrupted the face-to-face customer service the store once known as Vertical Runner had become known for.
General manager Jamie Wilken organizes inventory in Mountain Running Co. Formerly Vertical Runner, owners Shaun Pope and Bill Flanagan opened a second location in Boone last fall, introducing a new local brand to the mountains. Photo by Fred McCormick
“We had a website well before the pandemic, but people rarely used it to buy shoes,” he said. “We have always been a place where people come in, look at the merchandise, talk about what they need or what they’ve worn in the past, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.”
That changed when retail businesses were forced to close, according to Pope, as new and returning customers began placing online orders.
“People were leaving us voicemails telling us to hang in there and that they couldn’t wait to come back when we opened,” he said. “That gave me a lot of hope.”
Those customers were true to their word.
“We had so many customers when we opened,” he said. “People really missed having that local shop when everything was closed down.”
As socially distant outdoor activities like disc golf and running became more popular during quarantine, Pope and co-owner Bill Flanagan began considering expansion and rebranding in the early months of the pandemic.
“I approached Bill about a running store that was for sale in Boone,” Pope said. “I had no intention of buying the store, but I told Bill because he’s an entrepreneur. I knew Boone was a great place for a running store.”
Flanagan suggested that he partner with Pope and establish a local brand.
“We thought that would give us the best opportunity to get the most out of our work,” Pope said. “The trail running community in the mountains continues to grow, and we wanted our business to represent that."
Mountain Running Co. - Boone opened on King Street in October while its sister location in Black Mountain began operating under the name in January.
“I feel like one of the things the pandemic did for me was really show how much local businesses and the community matter to each other, and the shutdown made people appreciate them even more,” he said. “I remember talking to other business owners in Black Mountain around September and not only were businesses getting stronger, but we were all noticing new ones popping up.”
A year ago, there was no doubt the arrival of the pandemic would alter the local business community, but this spring brings reasons for optimism, according to Tabor.
“I think ‘resiliency’ is a good word,” Tabor said of the defining characteristic of the Swannanoa Valley business community a year of the pandemic. “The past year hasn’t been easy on anybody, but it’s reassuring to be in the position we’re in right now.”