High Five Coffee seeks help after Woodfin Riverside fire, arrest made

Losing the High Five Coffee shop on Riverside Drive means more than a storefront gone in Woodfin. The building at 2000 Riverside Drive, behind The Mill at Riverside, was declared a total loss after a fire early Thursday, and the familiar riverside gathering place that reopened after Hurricane Helene damage is now closed again.

Police and fire officials were called to the scene around 1 a.m. on May 7. Investigators said video surveillance helped identify a suspect, and Nicholas Hunter Grigsby of Valley Park Drive was arrested in connection with the fire. He was charged with felony burning of a commercial building and a domestic violence protective order violation and was being held at the Buncombe County Jail under a $100,000 bond.

High Five Coffee has been asking the community for help as it figures out what comes next. The company thanked neighbors for their messages and pointed customers to a GoFundMe meant to support employees and rebuilding costs. Jay Weatherly, the owner and founder, is leading the recovery effort.

The Woodfin shop had already become part of Buncombe County’s recovery story after Hurricane Helene. The French Broad River rose around 24 feet during the storm in September 2024, flooding the business and leaving crews to pull out flooring and walls down to the studs before the location reopened on June 28, 2025. The rebuilt space even carried painted markings showing how high the water rose, a visual reminder of how hard the shop had fought to return.

High Five says its Riverside location first came together in the spring of 2018, making the fire another blow to a business that had become familiar to regulars along the French Broad. 828newsNOW reported the building was a total loss, underscoring how much work will be needed before the site can reopen, if it can be rebuilt at all.

For now, the company’s other Asheville-area locations remain open at 190 Broadway St. and 13 Rankin Ave. High Five describes itself as a family-owned small business with three locations, serving coffee drinks, local baked goods, breakfast, lunch and snack options. The immediate support is clear: keep those other shops busy, and help carry the Woodfin team through another rebuild.