Downtown Arkadelphia recently welcomed the Nutrition Den, a hangout space that serves meal replacement shakes and tea. The business opened on Saturday, October 15 on South Sixth Street in downtown and hopes to offer a space for local students to congregate.
“We have meal replacement shakes, flavors such as banana caramel, German chocolate cake, [and] cookies and cream,” said Matt Edmonds, one of the owners of the Nutrition Den.
In addition to shakes, the Den offers a variety of flavored tea beverages on its menu. Edmonds and fellow owner Jason Cantwell opened the Den with the intention of creating a space in Arkadelphia where college-aged students could gather and enjoy healthy drinks.
“The atmosphere is kind of like a modern coffee shop,” Edmonds said. “It’s a very relaxed environment.”
Cantwell, a Ouachita grad, saw a need in the community for a place where students could do homework and enjoy each other’s company outside of the student center, as well as a need for a place that provided nutritional options.
“It’s a place for students to relax, hang out, do homework, play games [and] talk with friends,” Edmonds said. “It’s not a place where we want you to just come in and leave. We want you to come in and hang out and talk with us.”
This atmosphere is reflected in the aesthetic of the business—the Den is furnished with pallet furniture, coffee tables, couches and rustic bars, and the walls of the building’s interior feature chalk art. Ouachita senior Emily Knocke, an English and Spanish major from Wichita, Kan., was one of the artists behind the Den’s wall art.
“They sell nutritious shakes, and Sammie Pascoe took a nice photograph for their brochure with two shakes on it, so it’s a loose representation of her idea,” Knocke said. “Once all the wall art was done, the room seemed a lot brighter and more energetic.”
The Nutrition Den opened Saturday, October 15 and featured raffle giveaways as well as a live music performance by Ouachita students Emily Weeden and Nathan Perry. Despite opening weekend coinciding with Ouachita’s homecoming weekend, the Den still saw positive community response in its opening days and has continued to gain positive feedback in the weeks since.
“It’s a fresh option that you don’t see in Arkadelphia, and it’s geared towards something college students might focus on more than older people,” Knocke said. “The Den is different and has a very laid back atmosphere where everyone realizes [that] we are college students and we just need another place to go and do homework and sip some tea other than the student center.”
The Nutrition Den is located at 201 South Sixth Street in downtown Arkadelphia. For more information, visit the Den’s Facebook page, “The Nutrition Den.”
– By Katie Kemp, News Editor
