The Healthy Corner is shaking up downtown Seymour.
Located at 209 E. Second St. in the former Project You yoga studio, the business offers its customers nutrition options to boost energy and support weight loss for an overall healthier lifestyle.
The menu consists of more than 70 different flavors of protein shakes along with energy-boosting teas, coffees, aloe shots and customizable acai protein bowls that taste as good as they look and make you feel even better, said manager Rosalinda Molina.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryBut don’t make her choose a favorite flavor.
“I like them all,” she said.
Molina and business partner Bianca Gonzales are independent distributors for Herbalife Nutrition, the 40-year-old global company behind the protein powders that are the key ingredient in The Healthy Corner’s offerings.
Packed with vitamins, minerals, protein and fiber, each shake contains enough nutrition to serve as a meal replacement to assist people with their dieting and weight management goals.
“I trust the product because it worked for me,” Molina said. “I’ve lost over 25 pounds.”
But unlike a lot of meal replacement shakes on the market today, Molina said people will be surprised by how much they enjoy drinking these.
The Healthy Corner celebrated its grand opening Aug. 21, and Molina said the support from the community has been exciting.
Originally from Lexington, Kentucky, Molina, 20, moved to Seymour about a month ago to help open and run the business. The store is owned by David Dominguez of Lexington, who is Molina’s Herbalife sponsor.
“About 10 years ago, my sponsor moved to Lexington, Kentucky, from Atlanta and he started what was The Fit Club,” Molina said.
That business promoted physical fitness and exercise through dance classes and sold a limited variety of Herbalife shakes and products.
Over the years, Dominguez started building The Fit Club brand by opening up different locations, and it started to evolve.
But Molina’s journey with Herbalife began separate from Dominguez when she was much younger.
“My dad introduced me to Herbalife when I was 14,” she said.
At that time, she wasn’t interested in it because its targeted audience was older Latino women, she said.
Working at her father’s restaurant in Lexington, it was through a co-worker’s aunt, who sold Herbalife in California, that she was introduced to a more modern Herbalife club that catered to a younger clientele.
“They had dance and over 70 different flavors of shakes, and it was just a cool, fun and friendly environment,” Molina said. “That got me into it.”
At 17, she opened up her first shake business and later became the first in Dominguez’s organization to open up a place like The Healthy Corner.
Growing up with her father owning his own restaurant, Molina said she learned how to run a business. She started when she was 9 by selling candy at a Fourth of July celebration. A few years later, she moved on to selling decorative cases for iPods to her friends and classmates and later went on to sell makeup.
“I don’t have the mentality that I want to go be an employee,” she said. “I know I want to be my own boss.”
With her success, other people started coming to learn more about Herbalife and opening their own businesses.
“I loved teaching them, so out of every club that had opened and all the experience of what’s worked and what’s not, we’ve created a system and the system has been blooming and we’ve been opening everywhere,” she said.
There are a couple of locations in Lexington and they also opened one, 812 Nutrition, in Columbus and are looking for a site in North Vernon.
Dominguez purchased the building on East Second Street in Seymour a couple of months ago and remodeled the inside to open it up more.
“We completely changed it, so it took us a couple of months to open,” Molina said.
Seymour is a good location for The Healthy Corner because of its size, she said.
“It’s so much easier to connect with the community in a small town,” she said.
One way they are getting their name and product out there is through their tea drops when they drop off samples at local businesses.
“Since we’ve opened, we’ve done more than 250 tea drops,” she said. “It’s so much fun.”
But it also serves the purpose of making people feel good, she added.
Molina doesn’t just want to sell a product to people. She wants to get to know them and build friendships with her customers.
Along with the existing bar, they plan to add tables and chairs and free Wi-Fi service to encourage people to come in and stay awhile, making it a social gathering place.
When it comes to the price of the drinks, Molina said some people may think it’s expensive, but she sees it as an investment
“If you’re willing to pay $5 or $6 at Starbucks, why wouldn’t you spend $2 more and invest in your health?” she said. “Because in the long run, that’s what’s going to help you the most.”
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What: The Healthy Corner
Where: 209 E. Second St., Seymour
Phone: 812-786-3095
On the menu: More than 70 different flavors of Herbalife protein shakes, energy-boosting teas, no-caffeine refresher drinks, coffees, aloe shots and acai protein bowls
Owner: David Dominguez of Lexington, Kentucky
Manager: Rosalinda Molina
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