Juicin’ Jar, the smoothie bar and vegan bakery on Exchange Street in downtown Glens Falls, has expanded to add a market and gift shop.
Sisters Nicole Laubenheimer and Cristina Hanchett have taken over the space formerly occupied by Ann Parrish’s Milk & Honey shop, and expanded their offerings in an effort to appeal to a wider audience.
Sisters Nicole Laubenheimer and Cristina Hanchett outside Juicin’ Jar
“It was very natural,” Nicole, 27, told Glens Falls Living. “We were both closed for about two months, and when we re-opened, Ann re-opened. Our schedules meshed.
“And then Ann came to us and told us she was thinking about retiring. She was ready.”
Cristina said, “At first, we didn’t know what to do. There was talk about splitting the space out front, and our lease was up in October.”
Nicole said, “There was a moment before we re-opened this spring when I said to Cristina, ‘We really need to talk…It was very emotional. There were a lot of tears. We wondered if we should close this chapter.”
But Cristina, 28, who married Daniel Hanchett a month ago, said, “It was always our dream to have a market and have more space, even before COVID-19 hit.”
The market and gift shop features “everything locally, and all of our dry products are organic,” Cristina said. There’s local honey, jams and jellies, and special blend teas. There’s clothing and candles and kitchen items and handcrafted greeting cards.
“We want to match the season,” Nicole said. “Right now, we have fresh squash and Indian corn. We want to keep things local and organic.”
And, Cristina said, “we’re doing more cakes and cupcakes, things we wouldn’t normally do, now that we have the space to present them nicely.”
A downtown fixture since 2015, when it moved from Lake George to South Street, Juicin’ Jar moved to the 16 Exchange Street in 2016.
Cristina and Nicole now have a three-year lease with building owner Nancy Scumaci, a nutritionist and real estate investor from Bolton.
“From the moment we met Nancy, she has been so patient and understanding,” Nicole said. “And Ann helped us modernize and make the market and gift shop more our style.”
Nicole’s boyfriend, Ryan Darfler, and Cristina’s husband Daniel Hanchett, “helped us with the remodeling and construction and heaving lifting,” Cristina said.
Since reopening in the expanded space, “the community has been so positive and supportive. Our customers are like family,” Nicole said.
As the pandemic continues, she said business “is challenging. Every day is unknown. But we’ve been open for two weeks now, and it’s been very steady. We have a wonderful base of regular customers.”
Cristina said, “It seems like this was meant to be.”
