Gregg Thompson has seen first-hand that the small business and entrepreneurial spirit in Western North Carolina wasn’t washed away by Helene’s rains, winds, and raging rivers.

Thompson, the former state representative who is now the National Federation of Independent Businesses State Director, visited Spruce Pine a few days after the storm to visit a business that was cleaning up and shoveling sludge for its premises.

“They said that they had decided even before it was over, that they were going to reopen,” Thompson said. “They were determined that they were going to reopen even after they saw the damage. That's the mentality that small business owners have that makes them succeed.” 

A 2025 report by the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy stated that 99.6 percent of businesses in North Carolina meet the criteria to be considered small businesses.

Businesses that met this criteria (less than 500 employees and less than $75 million XXX) employ 44.2 percent of the workers in the state and make up more than 1.1 million businesses.

Needless to say, Western North Carolina doesn’t run on a certain type of fast food coffee, but on small businesses.

Look around when you drive and you’ll see them: tucked into the store fronts of strip malls, on meandering brick pavers of a downtown street, or in an industrial park. Everywhere you look there’s a small business that contributes to the local economy, that employs your neighbor, or gives back to its community through the work it does.

In the aftermath of Helene there was a wonder if small businesses could survive. Some didn’t. Others reported losing money. Others shifted and changed from what owners learned during another difficult time. 

In July 2025, Mountain BizWorks released its 10th Local Business Impact Survey in which more than 700 small business owners shared their experiences. In the report it was stated that 96 percent of small businesses were impacted by Helene, including 52 percent that suffered physical damage. Eighty-three percent had to temporarily close their businesses due to the storm’s effects. 

A 2026 report by the NFIB stated that “North Carolina small businesses continue to face day-to-day challenges.” Even with the challenges, the report stated, there was “optimism.”

Thompson is in constant communication with businesses across the state, particularly in Western North Carolina, as he grew up in Spruce Pine, served the nearby counties during his time in Raleigh, and went to college and lived in Asheville for several years.

“I talk with our members regularly regarding the issues that have an impact on their businesses,” Thompson said. “Of course, the number one issue now for Western North Carolina is recovery and rebuilding and everything, but the top three issues that all small businesses are dealing with are similar.”

Thompson stated that the labor supply and labor shortages, tax reforms, and regulations are the top three issues with access to health care and supply chain also being issues for owners.

Still, he sees that the owners of small businesses in Western North Carolina will continue to fight and help the communities in which they operate.

“Ninety-nine percent of businesses are considered small businesses and especially in the rural areas like western North Carolina, it has such an impact on small communities,” Thompson said. “These small communities throughout the West depend on small, inventive business owners to survive. Citizens are having problems themselves, and then they need small businesses to get back open so they can get back to normal, because it'll never be normal the way it was. Optimism is a little bit higher. We've done an optimism index monthly since 1943 and optimism, it's not necessarily broken down geographically in the state, but it has increased a little bit. Being from there, mountain people persevere. They're hard workers.”

In the next section of this magazine, we will look at several topics that can help small business owners, we will feature trending small businesses, and we will find out what local colleges are teaching our future business leaders.