COSBY, Tenn. — Owner Deann Hines said she's seen fewer customers since Hurricane Helene devastated parts of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina. She said usually, the parking lot is overflowing, and the store is crowded this close to Christmas.
"We pretty much lost most of October, which is our biggest month of the year. That gets us through Christmas. Christmas gets us through winter. Now, here we are. It's going to be a very, very quiet winter," Hines said.
She said she's lucky her store wasn't damaged in the flood but it'll take some time for her to feel comfortable again.
"There's not gonna be much money here because everyone's lost their jobs, homes and businesses. It's complicated," she said.
The store has been around for 20 years and has survived many challenges. Hines said it'll be tough but they'll make it through this too.
"We'll have to shift gears and do more online sales and promote shipping for some of our customers who aren't here. We're doing a lot of that right now. We'll continue doing that just to sustain ourselves until Spring comes around and hopefully, it'll get better," Hines said.
Even though she's struggling, she's still giving back to her community. She's shifted from delivering necessities to giving out books.
Hines has donated many of her books to the 21st Century Packhorse Librarian, a group dedicated to providing free books to Helene-impacted communities. At their event in Cosby on Saturday, several people came out to replace books they lost or find new favorites. Catalina Ottolina lost all her books in the flood. As a mother of three who reads to her children every night, it was devastating.
"It was just gut-wrenching to throw all those beautiful books away. So this is a very uplifting thing that these librarians are doing. This feeds the soul. This lifts our spirits," Ottolina said.
She said she can't wait to surprise her children and some of their friends with books for Christmas. For Hines, being able to give people a little hope is all she wants.
"They've lost a lot and everything has been very traumatic. A lot of kids went through a lot that we'll never even be able to understand. Books are a good source of possibly escaping into a happy story and they may be coming out of it with a new optimism," Hines said.
Hines said she'll continue to donate books and provide help in any way she can.
