Business & Tech

Route 23 Health Store a 'Natural' Fit for New Owners

Green Life Market takes the place of The Art of Healthy Living, but continues to offer products for a healthy lifestyle.

For Kamel Yassin and his son, Ameer, eating healthy is not just a business but a way of life.

Kamel Yassin is the owner of Green Life Market, the new health store that took the place of at 1338 Route 23 North, in Butler, this month.

The store, which features many of the same products as The Art of Healthy Living, focuses on organic and natural products, as well as a gluten-free baked goods and a Mediterranean deli (including falafel and hummus). It officially opened the first week of August. Yassin said he purchased the entire building that houses the store in the end of July and bought many of the fixtures from the previous store's owner, Richard Rothbard. This is Yassin's first health food store, though he plans to branch out and open more Green Life Market locations.

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Yassin has a degree in biomedical engineering and a background in electronics. He owned Sound City, originally located in the Meadtown Shopping Center, which he sold in 2005 after relocating the store to Denville. Over the past three years, Yassin has been researching herbs and vitamins for a book he is writing about the natural remedies that he believes helped nearly cure him of Lyme Disease.

"I was interested in my own health," he said.

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Ameer Yassin is a bodybuilder and also began researching healthy foods to improve his own life after struggling with weight issues. He now serves as a health mentor to his friends and continues to learn about healthy food options. Ameer Yassin emphasized the importance he places on making the smoothies and juices offered at Green Life Market, which he mostly makes himself, pleasant to drink.

"All the juices taste really good, as well as are healthy," he said.

There are three employees at Green Life Market in addition to Kamel, Ameer and Kamel's wife, Mervet Yassin. Mervet Yassin bakes gluten-free cookies, muffins and breads on a daily basis, in addition to cooking the Mediterranean foods.

Kamel Yassin said business has been great in the less than two weeks the store has been open. Yassin said he opened the store immediately after The Art of Healthy Living closed because he did not want customers to feel as though there was a void. He also said the health store was "a natural fit" for him, given his time researching natural herbs and foods.

"We are actually doing [business] as if business is back to normal, but we are expecting to double our efforts," he said.

Yassin has lowered prices from the previous store's as well. Smoothies are now about $5.99 and produce prices are reduced. New Chapter brand vitamins are permanently on sale for 40 percent off.

The smoothie menu is all new as well. Ameer Yassin's favorite is the "Owners Choice," which features leafy greens, mango, strawberries, almond milk, coconut water, flaxseed, raw almonds and vanilla protein. While the former store used rice milk in smoothies, Ameer Yassin said the new store will mostly use almond milk, which, he said, is higher in protein and has a better taste. He also plans to introduce Chia Seed, a seed that is high in Omega-3, to the smoothie bar. He said many people do not realize how to get the most nutrition from the seed, which is gaining popularity due to mentions on television programs like The Dr. Oz Show.

"If you don't grind this, you're not going to get all of the nutritional flavor," he said.

In addition to the Route 23 store, Yassin said he is partnering with a chef who is opening a cajun cafe on Main Street, Bloomingdale, who will cook vegan and organic foods from Green Life Market.


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