Granger-based juice and smoothie bar opens new location on Eddy Street

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind.—Cold-pressed juice and smoothie bar Purely Pressed Juice has opened its second location.

“We have a lot of customers who go to Notre Dame, faculty, sports team. We just decided to come down here, be a little closer to the students and have it be, instead of an Uber ride away, a little bit closer to walk to and visit,” co-owner Reid Stichter said about the choice to open up on Eddy Street.

While the new location feels a lot like the Granger location, owners Rachel and Ryan Blake and Reid Stichter have high hopes for what it will become.

“It’s going to be a combination of smoothies, smoothie bowls, espresso, a lot of grab-and-go items like cold-pressed juices and then mason jar salads. We’ll have some soups and oatmeal and things like that,” Ryan said at the grand opening on Friday.

The cold-pressed juices are still made at the Granger location and Ryan said the Eddy Street location will focus greatly on offering organic coffee and espresso drinks while still selling the packaged juices.

To make things even busier for the owners, the shop is currently going through the process of re-branding. It used to be known as Simply Pressed Juice, but due to existing trademarks, the business shifted its name right before opening the new location on Eddy Street.

For Ryan, the opening of the second location marks a celebration of all the three have accomplished over the last few years.

“It all kind of started when my wife and I met at Ohio State and we were on the track and field team together and we got married shortly after school. We both knew that we wanted to start our own business eventually and we started the process of 'oh, what business are we going to start,” Ryan said. “Fast forward, we take a trip out to California and that was the first time we tried cold-pressed juice and it was like instant, like, this is exactly what we want to do, no one’s doing this back in the Midwest. This is it.”

The two ran a small pop-up shop in Columbus, Ohio, where Ryan is from, while they planned their products.

“It was just like a little two foot, three foot fridge that we sold the juice out of,” Ryan said.

After moving to Indiana, where brother and sister duo Reid and Rachel are from, the owners opened the original location in November 2016.

Now, over three years later, with two locations and a partnership with Beacon selling juices at the Granger health and wellness facility, the three hope to only continue growing their brand.

“This is very exciting for us,” Ryan said.

The new Purely Pressed Juice is located on Eddy Street next to Chipotle. It is open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays. Weekend hours, right now, are tentative.