A local juice shop recently moved locations from Route 7 South to the centrally located Merchant’s Row in downtown Middlebury. On Oct. 15, Juice Amour opened its doors at the new location. The Route 7 South location had been open since 2016.
Early this past summer, Juice Amour’s management team, including owners Sheri and Dave Bedard, and manager Brooke Lossmann began looking into a new location closer to the college, Lossman said.
“[Our main priority was] getting closer to the college and college students, and being able to have the kids walk to us was super important,” she said.
The team began doing renovations on the space in Aug. 2021, which took until the day of the grand opening to complete. These refurbishments included painting the space, bringing in tables, adding a bathroom, and making some other “finer touches,” Lossman said.
According to Lossman, their goal with the renovations was to “make a space for people to be able to hang out and chill out.”
Though the store’s menu largely remained the same with the location change, a new menu is currently in the works, with a soft-release date after Thanksgiving. As the name Juice “and-more” would suggest, they are hoping to introduce more savory items, such as biscuits and gravy, Lossman said.
Everything on the menu is vegan, made in-house, and organically sourced from Black River Produce. According to the store’s website, the most popular menu items include a “Berry Monkey” smoothie, “Late Riser” tacos, “The Daily Green Machine” Juice, and a chia seed and oats combo, named the “Classic Warm Belly Jar.”
Another change that has come with the new location is an expansion from two to three staff members to seven to nine members.
“It’s been amazing,” Lossman said. “We have almost three times the amount of business. Having the college kids be able to come in and work on their computers has been awesome.”
In addition to the Middlebury location, Sheri and David Bedard also own a sister Juice Amour store located on St. Paul Street in Burlington. Lossman described that location as “a lot smaller and quainter.”
According to Jasmine Deolio, manager of the Burlington store, the Burlington location, “tends to be a pretty come in, grab and go situation.” The shop typically attracts quite a few students from Champlain College, as it is located directly below Champlain College housing, Deolio added.
The two locations have virtually the same menu, though Middlebury’s Juice Amour has a couple of extra goodies in their cooler, Deolio said. The Burlington store opened about two years after its Middlebury counterpart, in February 2019, and has just three staff members.
Deolio said she, the Bedards and Lossman communicate multiple times a week about coordinating produce, helping with staffing, and other logistical matters.
Looking ahead, Lossman said she is very excited about the introduction of new menu items, along with the opportunities the store’s now-central location will provide. She and the rest of the Juice Amour team are enthusiastic about hosting concerts or other events in conjunction with the green space across Merchant’s Row, and being an accessible option when people come into town for other events, she said.
Maggie Reynolds '24 (she/her) is the Editor in Chief.
Maggie previously served as the Senior Local Editor, a Local Section Editor, and a Staff Writer. She spent this past J-term interning for VTDigger, covering topics from affordable housing in Addison County to town government scandals. She also interned for Seven Days VT as an arts & culture reporter summer 2022 and as a news reporter for the Daily Gazette in Schenectady, NY summer 2021.
Maggie is majoring in History and minoring in Political Science and Spanish. She was a three-year member of the Women's Swimming and Diving team. Maggie enjoys running, hiking, and iced maple lattes.
