WICKER PARK — Soon, customers can sip on a pressed juice or smoothie as they browse The Silver Room for jewelry and art.
Jus Juus, a new juice bar and delivery service, plans to start serving fruit and vegetable-based juices as well as smoothies inside The Silver Room at 1442 N. Milwaukee Ave. starting May 24.
Business partners Marquese Martin-Hayes and Olivia Gomez, who run a meal planning and exercise business called The Proper Physique, teamed up with Silver Room owner Eric Williams to share space for the juice bar.
He said the shop, with its free classes, performances and art shows, had the community focus he and Gomez wanted for their "juice boutique."
"We want to provide, really, a culture," Martin-Hayes said.
They plan to offer about 10 juices and 10 smoothies plus five seasonal juices and smoothies as part of the menu, which is still in the works. Items will range from about $5 to $12.
They also plan to include a juice delivery service that covers the city and some surrounding suburbs as well as offer wellness and nutrition classes, Martin-Hayes said.
"We'll have something for the health nut as well as those who want mixers for their alcoholic drinks," Martin-Hayes said.
Examples of mixers include pina colada, mojito and lemon drop martini, which will be alcohol-free and made with fruit, so customers can add their alcohol of choice.
They'll also have juices with ingredients such as kale, green apples, root vegetables and more.
Williams once had a juice bar inside his now-closed restaurant Square One, 1561 N. Milwaukee Ave., back in the early aughts, and since then, he said he'd been wanting to have one inside the retail shop.
"I know all the customers, and I know their lifestyles," Williams said. "A lot of them are very healthy people."
Williams called the juice bar idea a "good compliment" to his store's already eclectic offerings.
"There's no really good juice bars [in the area]," Williams said. "I think that's really important."
Martin-Hayes, an ultramarathoner and raw nutrition consultant, said he and Gomez planned to use Chicago-area grown fruits and vegetables whenever possible.
With the focus on local food, Martin-Hayes said he hoped they could cultivate "that community robust feeling of made-in-Chicago."
He and Gomez planned to expand the juice bar to other area shops, and he hoped to open one or two additional locations within a year.
"We want to partner with other spaces that are community-conscious," Martin-Hayes said.
