MELVIN’S JUICE BOX
Melvin Majors remembers every face he has ever served and only needs four hours of sleep a night. With his alert eyes, soft smile, and shining cheeks, he is a living advertisement for the organic lifestyle. Though he can expound on all the physiological benefits of organic juicing, what keeps the customers coming back is the additional emotional benefits of his juices. “I throw some of my true Southern-roots spirit in there, which makes it more energizing, more electric,” he says.
Those roots stem back to his grandmother’s farm on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, surrounded by trees, animals, and a panorama of fruits and vegetables. His grandmother, whom Majors describes as “earthy,” ran the farm and remains the biggest influence in his life. Majors moved to New York when he was nine, finding a job making juices at a yoga studio years later.
Since then he has been keeping health enthusiasts and their offspring glowing, serving as the star juicer at Lifetyme Natural Market on Sixth Avenue for many years. Now with his own juice bar attached to Jamaican hotspot Miss Lily’s, Melvin is reminiscing less about the past and looking forward to the future. “Melvin’s Juice Box is here on the map, all other juice bars do watch out,” he warns. “Everybody just watch out, because there’s so much love bursting out of the juice staff.” Majors also plans to spread his philosophy of organic juices with an upcoming line of six bottle juices as well as some protein and immune system tonics.
“Organic is very important,” Majors emphasizes. “You can compare organic and non-organic produce under an X-ray, and organic produce just lights up, everything lights up. And that is energy from the sun which generates all the love down to the greens, which nourishes us. We have to take advantage of the sun goddess giving us that love.”
Melvin’s Juice Box is open now at 130 West Houston Street, New York.