Couple opens new downtown Port Huron business with an aim to keep community healthy

Husband and wife Clifton and Lindsey Jackson aimed to have a soft opening to their new nutritional beverage store. What they got instead was an overwhelming support from friends, family and the community at large.

“The support is crazy," Clifton said. “The first week was nuts. I saw everybody that I haven’t seen in a couple of years, a lot of people came out to support us and they’re still doing it till this day and it’s just getting better and better every day for us."

Located at 506 Quay St., Port Huron Nutrition first opened their doors to the downtown district on May 2.

Shanelle Jackson, manager of the new store, said that the first week was overwhelming, but very humbling.

Lindsey, who has been in the health, fitness and supplement industry for more than 15 years as an instructor, was laid off from her former company after 13 years due to COVID.

During this period, she took some time off with her kids to homeschool and think about her future. Once her kids went back to school, one of her girlfriends opened a nutrition store around the same time.

She asked her friend to let her help out at the store, and the very next day, she was interacting with customers once again.

However, as she went home every night, she was very passive to Clifton about the "empire" that her girlfriend was building, to which Clifton asked, "why don't we do this ourselves?"

"We talked, and there wasn't any other better place than to come here, and everything has just been a blessing," Lindsey said. “We wanted to create a safe, great place where people can come in and build a relationship with the community, have a good positive upbeat place to just visit on the daily."

Although they're still touching up the décor inside their small, but spacious storefront, the inside is a welcoming and cozy corner for all patrons to enjoy their shakes, teas, and coffee beverages.

Clifton and his friend knocked down some separating walls and built most of the countertops along the back walls, staining them and doing some burn on the wood itself to give it an artistic finish. Paintings hang on the wall featuring art by Clifton's brother.

“Me and my wife just wanted to bring something back to our city and it just didn’t feel right to put it anywhere else but at home," Clifton said.

Clifton who was born and raised in Port Huron and attended Port Huron High School, described being back in his home town as "beautiful."

Port Huron Nutrition offers energizing teas that include collagen, aloe and b-vitamins.

Such teas include the rainbow mega tea made with strawberry, pineapple, cranberry aloe, pomegranate energy and collagen, and the peach sangria tea.

Port Huron Nutrition's meal replacement shakes also include protein, fiber, and low in sugar.

Their most popular drinks include coffee variants as well as shakes such as the banana split made with pecans, vanilla, and banana caramel.

“We have an enormous array of other products across the board that we offer to our clients as well," Lindsey said.

“We’re still trying to find our flow, the consistency, the patterns. I’m a numbers person so I try to see who’s ordering what to keep up with that inventory and be able to support their needs but it's been across the board so we’ve been having to keep up on everything that we have."

Lindsey added that there's no better feeling than having people come through the door and being able to touch the community, specifically those who haven't been healthy in the past and to be able to help them.

And whether it's a shake or an energizing tea, the Jacksons are always looking forward to helping anyone with their nutritional needs.

“Our uncle, our most loyal customer, in the last couple of weeks since we’ve been open, he’s already down 10 pounds," Lindsey said. “Our goal is to not only continue building the four walls within here but also to expand on to the community. We don’t stop at just Port Huron Nutrition, our goal is to touch as many lives as we can. They can talk to us about their nutritional needs too, we can help lead in the right direction."

The Jacksons plan on reaching out to educate kids in nutritional needs as well as reaching out to local organizations, nonprofits, and trainers to partner up with to support the community at large.

They're also planning on doing things during the month of June to celebrate Juneteenth. They'd like to find organizations within the black community where they can donate and have fundraisers throughout June.

“We’re a women-owned, black-owned company in the heart of Port Huron, and we're doing great. Some people doubt it, but we're doing great," said Shanelle.

Contact Sergio Montanez at Spoveda@gannett.com. 

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: New Port Huron shake, tea, coffee shop opens