As local businesses in downtown Asheville continue to recover following Helene.

Many shops and restaurants will continue to face more challenges as numbers report a steep decline in out-of-town visitors.

The downtown Asheville business improvement district (BID) shows in their latest report that there has been a negative 11.6% year-over-year decrease in out-of-market visitors.

Despite the decline and business closing its doors permanently, Nirjuana opened its doors just three months ago.

“A lot of smoke shops are up 5, 6 times profit margin. It’s tough for the consumers,” said Nirjuana store manager Gordon Luft.

Luft tells News 13 that by operating on more sustainable margins, ideally 2.2 to 2.5, the shop can sell reasonably priced products.

“We are undercutting some of these larger chains and are sometimes 15% to 25% more than we have. If people are trying to save money, and have it be a good budget deal, it will still incentivize them to spend the money,” Luft said.

Luft says the shop also built a financial buffer.

This ensures that even if they were to experience a decline in customers, which they have not, the shop can still maintain a stable, profitable baseline.

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