STAUNTON — It was two months after the August 2020 floods when Wes Wyse came to the Wharf.

Wyse was looking for a space to open his vintage shop. First, he looked at a basement space but the damage was so extensive he chose the space upstairs at 6 Byers Street.

“I was here first,” Wyse says, about businesses taking a chance and setting up shop in an area that was devastated by two floods. “The people that I talk to that are interested in opening down here are still pretty skittish about the flooding. But as time goes by maybe that will get less and less.”

The floods happened during the height of the pandemic after lockdowns had been in place for months. People were afraid to venture outside as the first wave of COVID spread across the country like wildfire. Businesses were struggling to make rent when 17 years to the day, Staunton had a flash flooding event it hadn’t experienced since 2003. Two weeks later, another flood would undo any repairs and efforts made by businesses and community volunteers to recover.

On Aug. 8, 2020, the first flood devastated 164 public, residential and commercial properties totaling an estimated $3.1 million in damages. Two weeks later on Aug. 22, 2020, another flood. Only the insurance companies know the exact amount of dollars lost, says Scott Garber, emergency management coordinator and fire chief for the city of Staunton. Any additional damage to those same properties flooded a second time was not reportable, he says.

The Wharf district was one of the hardest hit areas. Byers Street Bistro and the Public Defender's Office were completely underwater and shops like The Wine Cellar, Blue Mountain Coffee and Artful Gifts sustained so much damage that ultimately they closed their doors at the Wharf or moved to another location.

The Bistro had just recently reopened after closing down in March 2020 due to COVID. During the months they closed the business, they had refinished floors, repainted and made renovations.

"All that was pretty much washed away," the restaurant’s general manager Gio Cannata said at the time.

The Wharf, along with Augusta and Johnson Streets, are declared regulatory floodway zones. As cars washed away, so did the dreams of shopkeepers who brought Staunton some of its favorite places. The hardships were too many.

Eclectic Retro

It was a big deal when Wyse decided to open Eclectic Retro, even if it is upstairs. It would lead to him having conversations with two other shop owners that would decide to open up at the Wharf, too.

Eclectic Retro is a vintage shop, as in secondhand, says Wyse. “We call it eclectic. We’re more interested in style and character than we are about age or value or antique.”

Wyse has always been interested in vintage and had owned a store in Ashland County, Ohio. His favorite part is searching for great finds. When he moved to Staunton to be closer to his folks, he opened his shop soon after.

“What we find over the years is that people like to have the stuff that their grandparents had,” says Wyse. “And now their grandparents had all this cool mid-century retro weird stuff and that’s what the younger people like these days.”

He also partnered with another business, Idle Threadz, that has a room filled with vintage clothing with a 1970s retro vibe, he says.

“The woman who does the vintage clothing has an amazing selection of stuff from the '70s to the '90s that's been really popular so far.”

O’Brien’s Antiques & Art

One of the people who talked with Wyse and decided to open a shop in the Wharf is Frederick O’Brien. A year and half ago, he opened O’Brien’s Antiques & Art at 14 Byers Street, a basement space that had been damaged by the floods.

“Who’s to say it won’t happen this year again?” says O’Brien about the possibility of another flood. “But what’s life without a little risk? And we live close by and it’s a beautiful area and you have a restaurant right next door.”

O’Brien has been in the antique business for almost 37 years. Over the years, he’s owned shops in Vermont, Connecticut, Charleston, South Carolina, and now Staunton. He specializes mostly in 18th and early 19th century antiques and listed art. A lot of English, American and folk art and Americana pieces, he says.

“And then I sort of mix it up,” says O’Brien. “You’ll see some other things in here that I just couldn’t resist like a chandelier which is mid-century. I try to keep it interesting. Something for everybody.”

And there’s two other shops, he adds. “So we have three now.” O’Brien and Wyse opening would lead to another shop owner taking a chance and opening in the basement space that was once The Wine Cellar.

Gates Estates

“I did talk to Wes,” says Tim Gates. “He’s been there for two years, and Fred’s been there for over a year now.”

One of the reasons Gates chose the location, he says, was how well Wyse and O’Brien were doing. “Because that customer was already coming here.”

What's interesting about the three shops is that they are all very different but attract a similar customer base. For Gates, it’s estate sales.

“I carry what you bring me,” says Gates, who opened at 8 Byers Street a few months ago. Right now, a great portion of what you see inside his shop is coming out of homes in Richmond where he has another store, but he’s starting to see some locals begin to bring him things.

“The reason that I initially brought things from Richmond is so there would be something here, but my end goal here is to have local people bring me things.”

The timing for Gates was everything, he says. Both his parents had passed away and his wife’s family lives in Waynesboro.

“It was just better to be nearby. During the coronavirus, my in-laws didn’t go to the grocery store or Costco or Lowe’s. We did all that for them.”

Unlike an antique mall, a consignment store is something else, says Gates.

“In the antique mall, you have to maintain your own little space. So, you have a corner over here or a circle in the middle, and you have to stock it, price it, bring things in. If it doesn’t sell, you have to take it out, bring new stuff in. It can be daunting for people who don’t want to spend a lot of time doing it.”

Gates takes care of all of that while also collecting and reporting state, sales and use tax.

So far, Gates feels very encouraged, he says. He has owned an estate sales company since 2010, and this is his first real foray in the Valley.

“I'm not an antique shop,” says Gates. “I have things from 1690 and I have things from 2010 and everything in the middle. And I have an assortment of things from four dollars to $2,000.”

He loves the space he’s in and it shows. The ballast stonework reminds him of places he’s visited in Savannah, Georgia, he says smiling.

For the community, seeing life return to the Wharf is a welcome sight. People are strolling on its brick sidewalks, sitting outside at the Bistro and stopping inside shops to say hello and maybe leave with a shopping bag, or two. Tourists are back and small businesses are feeling a sense of normalcy return. After so many hardships, it is a long time coming.

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This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Floods: Shops opening at Staunton's Wharf bring life back to area