While many Meridian Township businesses are struggling to stay afloat due to COVID-19, juice and smoothie shop, Juice Nation, is expanding. Juice Nation will be opening in April its third location in Okemos, adding to its other locations in East Lansing and Lansing.
Plans for construction began in the early spring of 2020, however, the pandemic significantly slowed down the process. Owner Vernon Richard said: “We were not able to get some parts that we needed due to how the supply chain was affected. Construction times just took a lot longer than normal.”
Amber Clark, Meridian Township’s Neighborhoods and Economic Development Director, said this has been a common issue in all new business developments in the area. Clark said, “The supply chain has negatively impacted our small business owners’ ability to gain access to the supplies and equipment needed to open.”
While constructing the Okemos location, Juice Nation was still operating its other two locations. Richard said that while the pandemic naturally had a negative impact on the sales at his two locations, the pandemic did bring some positive light.
“We haven’t had a lot of our normal customers at our location near campus with school not being in person, and then also at our downtown location, all of the city and state workers are not there right now,” said Richard. “However with the positives, a lot of people looked to us as a more preventative stage. In terms of what you can do to help boost your immune system, what can you do to help bring better nutrients into your body, so we have been seeing an influx of customers in that way.”
Juice Nation’s most popular menu item during the year long pandemic? The “flu shot,” made of ginger, lemon, turmeric, orange and honey. “A lot of people use it in terms of helping get inflammation out of their body,” said Richard.
All products at Juice Nation are 100% organic, with the “flu shot” being just one of many organic cold press juices offered. Juice Nation also offers smoothies, smoothie bowls, cold pressed juice cleanses and more. To view their full menu, click here.
Juice Nation’s locations are offering to-go and pick-up orders. For first-time customers, Richard suggests trying the chocolate peanut butter smoothie, any of the acai bowls and the apple-lemon and ginger pressed juice.