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Haywood businesses, leaders react to reopening BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER he debate across the state still simmers — too soon, too late, or, like Goldilocks’ porridge, just right? At 5p.m. Friday, May 8, North Carolina transitioned into phase one of Gov. Roy Cooper’s three-phase plan to lift restrictions on commercial activity deemed non-essential in his March 27 “stay home� order. If all goes well, phase two will commence in two or three weeks, further loosening restrictions. Phase three could come four to six weeks after that. Despite the rigid, one-size-fits-all nature of Cooper’s North Carolina plan, the story of reopening Western North Carolina is actually the story of three very different businesses, in three very different Haywood County towns, all very different from the rest of the state and the nation.
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Smoky Mountain News
May 13-19, 2020
WAYNESVILLE A quick 30-minutes on the interstate west from Asheville, Waynesville is the epitome of the small mountain tourist town — a quaint but bustling Main Street lined with retail establishments selling everything from coffee tables to clothing to cookware, with breweries and restaurants filling in the gaps. Mike Coble owns two Main street businesses, a gift shop called J Gabriel and an upscale boutique, Moonlight and Garbo. He also plans to open a baby store in the near future. “We kind of took a different approach than some of the vendors out there,� Coble said of his multi-level J Gabriel location. “Since we do have a back door, we were able to bring in shipments, let them quarantine down here and spray them down. We could work restocking as well as doing curbside sales and online shipping but businesswise, it knocked us down to about a fourth of our normal sales on a daily basis.� His boutique wasn’t so lucky, owing to the more personal nature of the retail clothing business, but when Coble did reopen his businesses on Saturday, May 9 — the day after Cooper’s phase one implementation — he said he had a great day, businesswise. He
The doors are now open at many retail businesses across Western North Carolina, including J Gabriel on Main Street in downtown Waynesville. Cory Vaillancourt photo
also said that the reopening couldn’t have come at a better time. “A lot of the landlords and a lot of our vendors gave us reprieve in April and even some in May, but they’re coming to the point where they’re running out of cash as well,� he said. “There was not going to be a reprieve coming for June, so for our town and for a lot of small businesses, we had to open now.� Still, Coble thinks that the March 27 order closing most businesses was “a pretty smart decision� and that the timing of the reopening was appropriate as well. “I think we’re spot on, right where we needed to be,� he said. “If we waited any longer, talking with other people downtown and with other small businesses around, we wouldn’t have made it if we had to wait another month.�
governor declared all non-essential businesses closed, it just broke my heart. I’m excited that they’re now able to be up and running.�
MAGGIE VALLEY Maggie Valley couldn’t be more different from Waynesville. With no true downtown, Maggie is almost a purely corporate entity first incorporated 46 years ago to service commercial customers along a thin strip of Soco Road. Since the 1960s those mostly mom-andpop businesses have largely followed the fortunes of the long-shuttered Ghost Town in the Sky amusement park. Although businesses of late have started to craft an identity of their own, the town’s economy is almost completely dependent on tourist-related lodging and retail businesses.
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Waynesville Mayor Gary Caldwell concurred with Coble’s sentiments on reopening, even suggesting it could have occurred sooner. “Especially for our businesses downtown,� Caldwell said. “I know they’re not essential businesses, but I do feel like at that time they had enough time for safety protocols to be in place.� Caldwell still supports Cooper’s actions in the initial days of the “stay home� order. “At the time that all this was occurring, it was all new to all of us,� he said. “It was scary, but I can understand him doing that until we got things worked out to see how it was going to go.� Now that Waynesville is moving forward with limited reopenings, Caldwell said he’s glad to see his hometown rebound. “It’s exciting,� said Caldwell. “I know the first morning I drove downtown after the
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