With the aim to blend healthy and delicious, co-owners of the newest Niles business, Healthy Habits, will offer more than something sweet to their customers.   

The smoothie shop will open at noon Wednesday at 305 E. Main St. A ribbon— cutting ceremony will follow, celebrating weeks of hard work on getting the business up and running.

Co-owners Kendra and Nic Johnson, of Niles, said they hope to bring something new and health inspiring to Niles customers.

“There is nothing like this in Niles,” Kendra said. “We felt like if you wanted something new and exciting you would have to go to South Bend to get it. We wanted to bring something new and exciting to Niles.”

Healthy Habits is considered a Herbalife Nutrition Club. Herbalife is global company that touts nutritious benefits from their products.

Healthy Habits will utilize Herbal Life’s shake formulas, which come in powder form. The powder is combined with frozen fruit or things like sugar free pudding and other ingredients to create the drink.

“They are nice and creamy and very filling,” Kendra said.

Those who visit Healthy Habits will find more than 100 flavors of smoothies to choose from, including classic flavors like chocolate and vanilla, to the more innovative such as: German chocolate cake, Reese’s, thin mint cookie and turtle cheesecake. In addition to a smorgasbord of smoothies, the menu will also offer teas and a variety of protein snacks.

The menu ranges in price from $7 to $12, depending on whether or not additional supplements are added. Customers will have the option to enhance their drinks with supplements of fiber, 7 grams of protein, probiotic and a fat burner.

While neither Nic nor Kendra has owned a business, both said they were excited for the challenge and eager to better get to know the Niles community and build relationships with their customers. 

Nic serves in the Marines and also worked for a factory in Elkhart. Prior to that, Nic said he worked at a number of restaurant and customer service jobs. He said he is eager to bring his customer service skills to good use and make those that visit Healthy Habits feel welcome.

Kendra is a former Healthy Happies employee, a smoothie shop in South Bend that also utilizes Herbalife Nutrition products.

Kendra said she hopes that Healthy Habits can offer an alternative to fast food and energy drinks. The smoothies each feature 17 grams of protein, 21 vitamins and minerals, and are dairy and gluten free.

The couple said they each got into drinking Herbalife smoothies, when searching for ways to get healthier. Unlike many of the “chalky” tasting protein drinks of other varieties, Nic said he like the taste of the smoothies created from the Herbalife products.

Six additional employees were hired to help at the store. Five employees are part time and one is full time.

The couple has been working on getting the business ready for operation since June, when they began leasing the property. Both thanked their families for putting in hours of work on the shop. For the past couple of weeks, the families have replaced the floors, painted and sought to give the business a rustic and inviting atmosphere. The shop will seat up to 20 people and features a long bar and painted giving tree on the wall, created by Nic’s mom, Robynne Scott.

Support from other downtown communities also helped them get prepared, Nic and Kendra said,  including businesses that helped them with signage and t-shirts.

Starting in September, Kendra and Nic said they plan to lead free fit camps in the park once a a week. The sessions will be welcome to all ages and seek to teach people exercises that they can do at home. 

“I’ve grown up here and I love this downtown,” Nic said. “I love helping people and so does my wife … now we just want to give back to the community and help get people in shape.”

Herbalife also supports a program called CASA, which helps food insecure youth have access to food. A tip jar on the counter at Healthy Habits will collect money for the cause and another charity of the couple’s choosing.  The couple said they also plan to collect school supplies for the Lilly Missions Center, which supports children in need in Jackson, Michigan.

Hours of operation: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Thursday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

Where: 305 E. Main St.

For more: facebook.com/pg/healthyhabitsniles/posts/?ref=page_internal