Vortex Doughnuts closure sparks unpaid wage dispute in Asheville's South Slope

Nine former Vortex Doughnuts employees say the South Slope shop closed and left them without pay for their last two weeks on the job, turning a familiar downtown shutdown into a wage dispute with immediate consequences for Asheville workers.

The bakery at 32 Banks Ave. had already posted a closing notice, but the conflict deepened after a former employee shared a detailed account on Instagram describing what workers say happened behind the scenes. The post said owner Mollie Collins Skalski fired nine staff members and shut the business down without settling recent wages. Screenshots shared with the account showed Skalski saying there was not enough money for payroll or other expenses and urging employees to apply for emergency unemployment.

The backlash was fast. The employee-run Instagram account drew more than 7,000 likes and nearly 300 comments in about 12 hours, underscoring how quickly a South Slope business story can become a public reckoning in Asheville. A storefront notice reportedly said the last day of business was Tuesday, April 14, 2026, and a later social post said the shop was closed permanently, adding: “CLOSED PERMANENTLY. Thanks for a great run, Asheville. 2014-2026.”

Vortex had been part of the South Slope district since 2014, when it opened near a chocolate factory and several breweries in a neighborhood that helped define downtown Asheville’s food-and-drink scene. Its abrupt disappearance matters beyond one storefront. For workers, the issue is not just a closure, but whether wages due at the end of employment were handled properly and whether a downtown hospitality business can walk away from staff at the moment they are most exposed.

North Carolina law says employees whose jobs end for any reason must be paid all wages due on or before the next regular payday. The N.C. Department of Labor says workers can file a wage complaint for unpaid wages, final paycheck problems, vacation disputes, unauthorized deductions and similar claims. That means the former Vortex employees have a path to pursue back pay if their allegations hold up.

The case also revives questions about the company’s labor record. Vortex Doughnuts, LLC had an NLRB case filed in 2021 that was later closed by settlement, adding another layer of scrutiny to a shutdown already marked by public accusations, a broken payroll dispute and a loyal customer base watching one of South Slope’s longtime fixtures vanish.