Image courtesy of Ginger Juice
[Update: Ginger Juice soft-opens with limited menu on Monday, Oct. 26, and opens fully on Thursday, Oct. 29.]
Have you ever started your day with fresh juice — really fresh, as in just pressed — instead of coffee? It’s a game changer. I thought that only caffeine could bring about a wondrous burst of happy morning productivity, but I learned I was wrong when I tried my first juice cleanse. It’s important to note that I’m not a “juice cleanse person.” My version included chasing fresh, raw juice with a cheese pizza, so I’m not sure how successful the cleansing portion of the week ended up being, but my invaluable takeaway was that I can get pretty jacked on a kale/pineapple/green pepper/lime combo at 9 in the morning and not need a nap at 3 in the afternoon, so you can bet that I’ll be first in line at Richmond’s new juice bar, Ginger Juice, opening Oct. 20 in the Village Shopping Center.
The 575-square-foot nook that will house Ginger Juice is mostly a production site; in order to save you time, customers will just grab a selection from the cold case instead of having it made to order. “It’s like a doughnut shop,” owner Erin Powell explains. “You watch the doughnuts being made, but you don’t watch your doughnut being made.” Each juice name begins with the letter G: Glitzy, Golden, Glee. Glitzy, an apple, pear and pineapple concoction, is the best seller and is much loved by kids. Not everything is veggies and fruit, either: Glee is comprised of pressed almonds, cinnamon and local honey.
In addition to juice, healthy, fast, local food options will be on the menu. Goatocado is partnering with Ginger Juice and will serve up its grain/bean/veggie bowls from a permanently-installed food cart from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and the Ginger Juice counter will offer acai bowls (the base is kind of like a thick smoothie made from the tropical acai berry) in three varieties: almond butter, espresso, and a green bowl with avocado, spinach and kale.
This isn’t Powell’s first juice rodeo. She’s been in business for eight months, and she knows that a good bit of her clientele lives in the Near West End area — the location of the Village Shopping Center, which she had staked out before starting her company. Her brick-and-mortar model is based on juice bars she’s visited in cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco, complete with “elixir” additives for juices such as wheatgrass, lemon basil, and, of course, ginger juice shots. Funnily enough, Ginger Juice isn’t named after the delicious spicy root. “The company is called Ginger because I start juicing for my son; he wouldn’t eat his veggies. And he has red hair,” Powell laughs.
Juices are bottled in 16-ounce and 8-ounce sizes and priced at $7.50 and $4.99, respectively. Check out the whole mouth-watering list at gingerjuiceco.com.
Ginger Juice opens on Tuesday, Oct. 20, in the Village Shopping Center at 7019 E. Three Chopt Road.
