Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc on Downtown Asheville.

But one pillar of the community remained resilient, perhaps because its founder was a Hungarian immigrant whose family had survived World Wars.

Today, Malaprop's is still the beating heart of Asheville.

[light rhythmic drum music] - We get excited by putting good books into people's hands.

Malaprop's was opened in 1982 by Emoke, and back in those days, Downtown was kind of desolate, so it was one of the first businesses that kind of led to the revitalization of Downtown Asheville.

[funky upbeat music] We like to serve the community through just offering a great selection of books, a very personal selection to the staff, and we like to give people the opportunities to find books that they might not find at other places.

At the same time, we like to have a great events program, national and regional authors, local authors as well, and we like to get out in the community as well and sell books.

[funky upbeat music] - There are so many times a day where somebody at the register is telling me how excited they are to see an independent bookstore operating still, and an independent bookstore that's so busy and so filled with people.

And I think people are really excited to see that people are still reading, people are still buying books, people are still bringing their kids and their families and their friends into a space like this.

That kind of a community space is really inspiring to people, and puts it on the map.

- Before I ever moved here, I would visit 10, 12 years ago, and come here to this spot.

It was always a hub of community activity, and authors, and that got me excited and inspired, and I said, "One day I'll come to that place and work."

And so I think that's something important, that the community has that place where they can go for literary inspiration and togetherness.

- We were one of the first stores to have a cafe and a bookstore.

You can come have coffee and chat with your friends and browse.

It's always brought a good energy to the store, when the cafe's packed.

[uptempo contemporary music] - We offer a lot of locally sourced product from chais to matchas.

Our coffee is a North Carolina coffee company, so we try to focus on that and bring people together, under those auspices, community.

[funky upbeat music] - Kinda the beauty of a physical, brick and mortar bookstore is discovery.

So coming in and taking your time and looking through what we've got, finding something specific to you that you might not even know is out there.

That's pretty special.

- I like the books that you can find here that sometimes you can't find at other places.

The staff is so knowledgeable that if you can't find something, they'll find it for you.

And so it's just a nice comforting place.

- Some people come into the store really wanting to learn.

They want knowledge, they want history, or political science or sociology.

And some people want escapism, and want something to just take their mind off of the sometimes harsh realities of the world.

Or some people want beautiful language and really artistic writing, and it feels and looks pretty big initially, but it quickly gets intimate as you're just wandering and can kind of stumble into something you weren't expecting.

[funky uptempo music] - As a local, you know, I come in and they know me, and they greet me by name and I chat with people, and I see them out in the community.

And that's really a big part of Asheville.

You will just find people to talk to, and to make you feel like you're glad you came to Asheville.

You're glad you came to Malaprop's.

[funky uptempo music] - Malaprop's Bookstore is at 55 Haywood Street in Downtown Asheville, and they're open daily.

To find out more, you can call them at 828-254-6734, or go online to malaprops.com.