LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — It's been exactly four months since an EF3 tornado tore through Central Arkansas and the state is still recovering.
Breckenridge Village in Little Rock still shows the scars after getting hit and business owners there have had a lot of challenges to overcome.
Micah Boswell opened his coffee shop a month later than planned, but at the end of the day, he said that he's just happy to serve the community.
"There was a lot of work that needed to be done," Micah Boswell, owner of Neverwhere Coffee and Comics said. "We did a very soft open for the first couple of weeks. Didn't know how traffic was going to be. But even then, the reception has been very warm. A lot of people have come in"
Boswell planned to put his shop in the Breckenridge Village Shopping Center even before the tornado.
"I like the area. I like the shopping complex. I know that they're going through a rejuvenation period and kind of a renaissance in this area, bringing it back to its former glory. So I just wanted to be part of that," Boswell said.
Even people from the few businesses left in Breckenridge Village are supporting him.
"It's a community. If we all work together, we all grow at the same time. We're not competing with each other. We're helping each other," he said.
Just a few doors over from Neverwhere, the owners at Mt. Fuji feel that way too.
Brothers, Aaron and Yusuke Jackson are depending on their customers.
After reopening in the middle of May, they saw a big shift in business.
"We were probably doing about a third of the sales that we that we were originally doing because March actually was our best month," Mt. Fuji co-owner, Aaron Jackson said.
Since then, they've seen more people making their way back, but they're still facing other obstacles from the tornado's aftermath.
"We're still out of the AC unit and with it being the peak of the summer, the kitchen has been devastatingly hot," Jackson said.
Right now, they're only seating people downstairs where its cooler, so they have limited tables.
In the meantime, they're shifting their focus to the future and planning their move to another space in the shopping center. They hope to see old familiar faces come back.
"I think the team really deserves a revamp in their in their kitchen and work environment. So I'm excited for them," Yusuke Jackson said.