Smoothie Bar Offers Gym-Healthy Smoothies, Acai Bowls On 111th Street

ALSIP, IL — Fans of acai bowls, juices and smoothies will now have a new source to get their fix when The Smoothie Bar celebrates its grand opening Saturday, Aug. 17.

Smoothies will be offering $5 smoothie and $7 bowl specials all day Saturday, in addition to gift cards and prizes from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The Smoothie Bar, 4843 W. 111th St., Alsip, is owned by 22-year-old Moe Abbadi, a Richards High School graduate, who is still working a full-time job as an arcade account manager while getting his dream off the ground.

“I just love smoothies and I like business,” Abbadi said. “They’re weren’t a ton of options super close that were making smoothies with fresh fruit.”

The store is conveniently located next door to CFX Fitness on the Alsip side of 111th Street, across the street from Mariano’s on the Oak Lawn side. Club members can come in and get 15 percent off a post workout smoothie.

“The main takeaway is that this is a fresh fruit smoothie bar. ,” Abbadi said. “Our acai bowls and protein-style smoothies are packed with fruit that you can take to the gym.”

While the Smoothie Bar has been open for a few months, Abbadi will be using the grand opening to debut his new acai and smoothie bowls that come in four different flavors – acai, dragon fruit, blue magic and mango.

Acai are gorgeous deep purple berries that are native to Central and South America, and are packed with powerful antioxidants. To make the berries edible, they're soaked to soften the tough outer skin and then mashed to form a dark purple paste for Smoothie Bar’s acai bowls.

The juice bar’s menu focuses on fresh ingredients, such as strawberries, bananas, mixed berries, mango, pineapple, kale and carrots, even peanut butter and cocoa. Smoothie Bar will also offer lemonade and coffee drinks, and energized smoothies to keep your energy up while you work out.

Prices run from $8.49 for a large smoothie, with bowls starting at $11.99, comparable to other juice bars that will charge upwards of $16 for smoothies and bowls.

For $1+ patrons can add double protein, creatine, fiber, collagen, double peanut butter or energy booster.

“Lots of nutrition places popping up and price gouging,” Abbadi said. “I personally believe that small businesses shouldn’t charge corporate prices.”

“I sell good smoothies but I also don’t want to kill people’s pockets,” he added.

The Smoothie Bar, 4843 W. 111th St., Alsip, is open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. The juice bar can be reached at 708-930-5820. Keep up with Smoothie Bar happenings Facebook and Instagram.