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The Assembly is putting storm coverage outside of our paywall and making it free to republish in any local or regional outlet.
This article is published in partnership with The Food Section.
On the Thursday after Helene struck western North Carolina, stocks were running low at the Ingles Markets in South Asheville’s Skyland Plaza. As burly employees at the front of the store limited occupancy to 25 shoppers at a time, an enthusiastic greeter just beyond rattled off a well-rehearsed spiel.
“Twenty-five items. Cash only. Up to three chickens. Ground chuck, milk, eggs, paper towels, toilet paper, and water: One per household,” she explained. Inside, usually common items like orange juice, yogurt, and cream cheese were sparse or absent altogether; most of the store’s freezer cases were barren and roped off.
Purchase limits and scanty shelves were a discomfiting sign of how Hurricane Helene had impacted Ingles, a homegrown institution with a long history of bringing abundance to the region. Robert Ingle founded its first store in Asheville in 1963, and the chain has focused its growth on smaller towns and rural communities throughout the Southern Appalachians. It has grown to 198 stores and employs more than 26,000 people.
Now based in nearby Black Mountain, the company remains a cornerstone of the community. It’s an anchor advertiser for media outlets such as the alt-weekly Mountain Xpress, a sponsor of sporting events including UNC-Asheville baseball games, and a major donor to local nonprofits, among them MANNA FoodBank, which was forced by flood damage to close its headquarters indefinitely. Longtime Asheville residents often refer to their favorite locations using portmanteaus, like “Otingles” for the store in Oteen.
Those grocery shoppers and their beloved supermarket chain are now facing Helene’s aftermath.
The company’s distribution center and corporate offices sit on the banks of the Swannanoa River, which crested at over 26 feet, a level not seen since 1791 and roughly 10 feet higher than the National Weather Service’s major flood stage.
An Ingles employee on September 29 told Georgia’s Morgan County Citizen that “our headquarters is under water,” and aerial footage from September 30 shows its parking lots coated in mud. But the company hasn’t disclosed details about the damage it sustained, leading to wild local speculation about the magnitude of its loss.
What the general public knows for sure is that one week after the storm, 13 Ingles stores remained closed, citing connectivity issues.
During the same timeframe, the company’s stock lost about 15 percent of its market value.
Repeated calls to Ingles corporate office yielded a phone company message saying the calls could not be completed as dialed. An automated response to a Facebook inquiry read, “Connectivity issues due to Hurricane Helene will prevent us from responding to individual messages.” Ingles representatives did not reply to a message sent through an online contact form, nor did chief financial officer Pat Jackson return a direct email.
Ingles acknowledged the “unprecedented destruction” to its distribution center and the broader Black Mountain community in an October 2 statement, which also cited fatalities in the surrounding areas.
“We had loss of power, critical infrastructure, transport vehicles, inventory, and yes even loss of life. We were all severely impacted,” the statement read. “We are working diligently to bring operations back online and begin helping our community.”
Ingles proceeded to thank customers for their patience as its recovery continues. But in both Asheville, where other groceries are rebounding more quickly, and in rural Appalachia, where an Ingles is often the lone supermarket option, that patience may run thin.
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Overnight Shift
The Ingles’ distribution center sits along U.S. Highway 70, between Warren Wilson College and Black Mountain. A week after Helene hit, fallen tree limbs and piles of dirt still blocked parts of the main thoroughfare’s right-hand lane. A thin cloud of brown dust, rising off wheels from the mud left on the road by the Swannanoa River and baked by the sun, dulled the brilliant blue morning sky. The wreckage of gas stations, mobile homes, and overturned cars languished to either side.
By contrast, the 1.6-million-square-foot center—roughly the size of the U.S. Capitol building—didn’t show outward signs of damage. Guards in unmarked vehicles were stationed by each of its two entrances, more than a half-mile apart, protecting lots full of cars. Countless Ingles-branded semi-trucks stood parked behind the building; another truck hauled in an excavator on a flatbed trailer, but few of the company’s vehicles appeared to be arriving or departing.
Local and federal officials have begun to support the company’s operations. According to a September 30 press release from Rep. Chuck Edwards, the U.S. House Republican whose district includes Black Mountain, his office has partnered with neighboring Henderson County to source an industrial generator for the distribution center.
“Ingles staff slept on site last night waiting for the generator to arrive. This will allow the distribution facility to begin emptying its shelves to restock empty stores. We are currently working on solutions to restock the distribution center,” Edwards wrote.
In Asheville, residents have plenty of other places to buy groceries. At a Whole Foods Market directly across from the Ingles issuing quotas, business was back to near-normal by October 3. While the deli and many foods prepared in-store weren’t available due to the city’s ongoing water outage, freezers were full of ice and pizzas, and there were no limits on customers or purchases. A Publix several minutes up the road was similarly bustling, albeit with limits on a few critical items like ice.
Whole Foods spokesperson Nathan Cimbala declined to comment on how the company was managing in the wake of Helene, saying, “We’re solely focused on store operations and supporting our team members right now.” Publix spokesperson Jared Glover did not respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, outside the Hendersonville Road outpost of The Fresh Market, a Greensboro-based grocery chain, employees enjoyed a lunch of deli sandwiches with chips as they prepared to open for the first time in a week. Manager Luke Schentrup said his team was in good spirits, if exhausted from days of clearing out food gone rancid, restocking shelves, and handing out 1,500 cases of water to people in need.
Schentrup said his supply chains were generally functional, if often running behind schedule due to the indefinite storm-related closures of Interstates 26 and 40. Eggs and bananas were in short supply, and without city water, workers will have to ration gallon jugs of spring water for sanitation and handwashing as they prepare fresh items like salads. But whatever the limitations, he was eager to get back to serving residents through the hard times.
“We’re thinking basically about what we’re going through. What would I buy at this grocery store, without having power? Charcoal, water, canned goods—that’s what we’re mainly trying to [supply] as we try to get operating,” Schentrup said.
Community Support
Beyond Asheville, though, residents of many isolated mountain communities are largely dependent on Ingles. Ingles is the only full-service supermarket in towns such as Lake Lure in Rutherford County, Burnsville in Yancey County, and Mars Hill and Marshall in Madison County. These places may have discount grocers, convenience stores, specialty markets, or tiendas, but no other option with the same variety or volume of goods.
Until recently, one of those shoppers was Meg Chamberlain, owner and CEO of fermented food maker Fermenti and a Madison County resident since 2014. Although she also frequented Madison Natural Foods, an organic grocer destroyed by the storm, the Marshall Ingles in Marshall was her place for staples such as flour and sugar, as well as what she calls “comfort items” like frozen pizza.
She’s tried to shop at that Ingles several times since the storm hit. On one occasion, she was turned away at the door shortly before closing time. On another, the store didn’t have the flour she needed.
Discouraged, Chamberlain took a chance on the Publix in Weaverville, roughly 20 minutes away in neighboring Buncombe County, and found it fully stocked, with attentive employees. “I have taken the hint, and I am now a firm Publix shopper, because I am thoroughly impressed,” she said.
Chamberlain has also doubled down on her commitment to local farmers markets, which she describes as a source of community strength as a place for community resilience. She said she was able to buy milk, cheese, produce, honey, and herbal medicines at the Weaverville market on October 2; perhaps more importantly, she found understanding among vendors who had faced similar challenges from Helene.
“I’ve lost friends in this. And I didn’t find any emotional support at Ingles, or even Publix,” she said. “I did find emotional support at the farmers market, where everybody knew those people, and we were able to come together and honor them.”
Daniel Walton is an Asheville-based freelance reporter covering science, sustainability, and political news. He was previously the news editor of Mountain Xpress and has written for The Guardian, Civil Eats, and Sierra. Contact him at danielwwalton@live.com.