ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Many businesses are still rebuilding after Helene, with a few of them having their reopenings this week.
“Today is the culmination of a year and a half of really hard work when 26 feet of water washed away the Village Potters Clay Center down in the River Arts District,” said Sarah Wells Rolland, the Executive Director of The Village Potters Foundation.
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She was talking about the grand reopening of The Village Potter’s Clay Center, a ceramic center that sells art and has education programs.
APRIL 11, 2026 -Many businesses are still rebuilding after Helene, with a few of them having their reopenings this week. (Photo: WLOS Staff)
While its reopening was in the Westgate shopping center in Asheville, it was originally located in the River Arts District for 15 years.
“We always knew that our biggest risk to our business was the river, and we always had an emergency plan, but we were planning for 4 feet of water, not 26 feet of water,” Wells Rolland said.
Wells Rolland says that for the past year and a half, they’ve been working 6 to 7 days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day, so they could return.
“We’re actually better now, and what we’ve built back will go on beyond me,” Wells Rolland said.
APRIL 11, 2026 -Many businesses are still rebuilding after Helene, with a few of them having their reopenings this week. (Photo: WLOS Staff)
On Friday, there was a grand reopening for the Jos. A. Bank in Biltmore Village.
Zachary Morrow is a retail associate at the Jos. A. Bank in Biltmore Village.
He says that a year and a half ago, he didn’t think much of it when he heard there was going to be a hurricane.
But he says the next day, the water was almost up to the roof of the store where he works.
“Everything was just so damaged. The glass was all shattered. All of our suits were just completely ruined. The whole store, really,” Morrow said.
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He was able to move to another store owned by the same parent company, but he tells us that moving back to Jos. A. Bank in Biltmore Village was always the plan.
“And it’s really nice that I can be back here finally,” said Morrow.