Above is the Inta Juice logo from the Kanawha City location. A new Charleston shop opened on Summers Street recently.

Story reprinted from the April 3, 2007 Charleston Gazette

By Joe Morris
Staff writer

NFL star Randy Moss’ second Inta Juice smoothie-bar franchise has opened in Charleston.

Located at 162 Summers St., near the intersection with Quarrier Street, the bar had an unannounced opening on Saturday and began regular hours on Monday. It sells juice and smoothies, or milkshakelike drinks made of fruit, nonfat frozen yogurt and supplements like ginkgo and bee pollen.

Moss, a Rand native and Oakland Raiders wide receiver, opened Charleston’s first Inta Juice 10 months ago in Kanawha City, saying he liked the drinks so much he wanted to invest in a franchise. That shop set sales records and still consistently ranks in the top 10 percent of all franchises in sales, said Heath Pickett, an executive at the Fort Collins, Colo., chain’s headquarters.

The Summers Street shop is much bigger, measuring 1,600 square feet to the Kanawha City shop’s 900 square feet. It carries the same items and provides wireless-Internet connections, also like the Kanawha City location.

“There’s just a lot more room for people to sit down and surf the Internet,” said manager Mark Wright.

Business Monday was brisk considering that the opening hadn’t been advertised, he said. “Nobody even knew we were open, but it has been steady,” Wright said.

Inta Juice downtown will target office workers, Wright said. It will deliver orders of at least 10 items when they’re ordered the day before. The downtown shop will also make smoothies in bulk to be sold, at about a 40 percent markdown, to Kanawha County schools. The schools will, in turn, resell them for fundraising, Wright said.

The Kanawha City bar’s biggest seller has been “Caribbean Blend,” Wright said. The mixture of peach juice, pineapple and orange sherbet, bananas and strawberries is also Moss’ favorite, said Tim DiPiero, Moss’ agent and a Charleston lawyer.

DiPiero said he had been surprised at the wide appeal Inta Juice had found in Kanawha City. “Young and old alike, people in shape and who want to lose weight — we don’t have any target,” he said.

Store hours will be 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays, though the Saturday hours could change according to how much business the store does then, DiPiero said.

he grand opening will be Saturday, and Moss will be there, DiPiero said. He won’t be signing autographs but will be handing out autographed items to children. “He really just wants to enjoy it,” DiPiero said. “He’ll be behind the counter some.”

Moss is considering opening still more Inta Juices in the state, DiPiero said. Among the cities under consideration are Morgantown, Huntington and Teays Valley.

“We haven’t had time to do it, but we’re looking,” he said. “We’re also hoping to get other people interested in starting up franchises on their own.”

To contact staff writer Joe Morris, use e-mail or call 348-5179.

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