A Louisville favorite health food shop recently expanded its business to a new Location in east Louisville.
Life Bar, a local raw and organic Smoothie Bar, opened its third location in LA Fitness located at 4900 Shelbyville Road, in November.
When LA Fitness bought Urban Active, they closed all of the smoothie bars inside of them, Life Bar owner Chase Barmore said. A friend of Barmore’s told him about the juice bar opportunity at the athletic club and the third Life Bar was born.
“They basically want to have a clean juice bar and smoothie bar,” he said. “They actually went through our menu to approve it at the corporate level.”
The tanning beds in the athletic club were also taken out and Barmore said he hopes to expand the new location into that area too.
Barmore added that LA Fitness and his business have a strategic partnership that could possibly allow him to open more locations.
“They want to have clean food and stand behind their mission,” he said. “They don’t want to serve garbage.”
The location of LA Fitness is key, Barmore said.
“We chose this one mainly because it’s next to Whole Foods and Whole Foods doesn’t have a juice bar,” he said. “We’ve received a great reception from the people at LA Fitness.”
Barmore said an unhealthy stigma regarding smoothies and juices can exist and that one of his main goals is to educate people to optimize their health.
“We’re going to start doing classes, like, smoothies 101, juicing 101 and bring in nutrtionists,” he said. “I want to educate people about having a plant based diet and how it can really change the way you feel and change the way people relate to food.”
The Life Bar app also adds a lot of convenience to customers, Barmore said. With being in a gym, people can order their drink on the app so it is ready after or before a work out.
Although Barmore said this location hasn’t taken off as fast as he wished it would, they haven’t had their grand opening yet.
The grand opening for this location will take place on March 15 and will include giveaways, music, cooking demonstrations and samples to “let people know that we’re there,” he said.
“We want to expand the life bar that’s already there and help people reach their fitness goals,” Barmore said. “I really think nutrition is important and it aids in people’s lives.”
