BRYSON CITY, N.C. — Bryson City is just one of many areas in western North Carolina impacted by Hurricane Helene.
"The city got hit with flooding," said Erin Smith, the owner of Humanité Boutique.
Many businesses were only down temporarily and were looking forward to reopening and welcoming back many customers.
"I was wondering where everyone was, I'm at about at least 50% with other owners down 90%," said Smith.
Smith also owns a loft in the Smokies. She said typically business owners are preparing for lots of foot traffic around this time of year.
Now some worry that won’t happen, with numbers trending down and cancellations going up.
"There is misinformation about what part of western North Carolina that we are located," Smith said. "We're in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We are recovered and cleaned up."
It's no different for Jose Arellano Barrera who owns the Elk Crossing just a couple stores down.
"We've definitely seen maybe like a 20 to 30% decrease here lately," Barrera said. "That's tourism we rely on as well as the city."
The domino effect of Helene continues to weigh heavy on small businesses in their community, but they’re continuing to lean closer to each other.
"That's our bread and butter," said Barrera. "We're just trying our best to keep that word going and to welcome people into Bryson City," said Smith.
As business owners continue to spread the word, they said they’re also working with Airbnb and Google Maps to ensure everyone has accurate information.