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Scenes from Urban Remedy’s shop in Mill Valley, from top left, founder Neka Pasquale in the former space at 15 East Blithedale, the new storefront at 34 Miller Av., customers gathering out front in late December and employees welcoming customers on Jan. 4.

For Mill Valley native Neka Pasquale‘s Urban Remedy line of prepared organic mealssnacksjuices and juice cleanses, oh what a difference a few years makes.

In 2013, Pasquale opened an Urban Remedy shop at 15 East Blithedale Ave., the 800-square-foot space formerly occupied the Classic Kids photography studio. The opening came just three months after the company debuted its inaugural store on Fourth Street in San Rafael’s West End district. It also marked a significant step forward for a business that spawned from Pasquale’s time as an acupuncturist at Evo Spa in Strawberry, where she’d started creating organic juices for clients experiencing chronic conditions like arthritis and inflammation. The demand eventually grew to the point that it became its own business and she left Evo.

Now, as Urban Remedy is set to host a Jan. 6th “grand re-opening” celebration for its Mill Valley shop as it moves down the street to 34 Miller Ave. – the space formerly occupied by Beth’s Kitchen, then Bonbon and then Honeymoon Ice Cream – the little organic juice and snack business Pasquale created is a vastly larger operation in terms of scale and scope. Richmond-based Urban Remedy now boasts 13 locations around the Bay Area, as well as kiosks as 23 Whole Foods Markets and space in the Napa Farms shop at San Francisco International Airport, with more on the way.

Urban Remedy is sub-leasing the 34 Miller space from Equator Coffees, which took over the lease in 2017 and uses the commercial kitchen in the back of the space as a commissary to prepare the parfaits, sandwiches and salads they sell at their retail cafes and via their catering division, says Equator co-founder Helen Russell.

The grand re-opening event, set for 12pm-3pm at 34 Miller, is multi-faceted affair with food samples from both Urban Remedy and Equator Coffees, a champagne toast and a raffle prize drawing featuring a personal session with Pasquale and a pair of one-day juice cleanses. All proceeds from the event will go to Sausalito-based Conscious Kitchen, which looks to partner with school districts “to shift the paradigm around food service” toward more “fresh, local, organic, seasonal, non-GMO meals.”

The 411: Urban Remedy hosts a grand re-opening celebration at its store at 34 Miller Ave. in Mill Valley on Saturday, Jan. 6, 12pm-3pm. The shop’s hours are Hours: 7 am-8pm, Mon.–Fri. and ; 8am-7pm, Sat.-Sunday. MORE INFO.

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