Healthy Living Market & Café opens its second location in Chittenden County on Thursday, October 29, with a branch at 129 Market Street in Williston.

The new store is about half the size of the South Burlington location, or 18,000 square feet, according to Nina Lesser-Goldsmith, who owns the business with her mother, founder Katy Lesser, and brother, Eli Lesser-Goldsmith.  The Williston store offers the same product categories and departments as the original outlet, Nina Lesser-Goldsmith explained, but with a smaller selection of  items within the departments. The new store employs 65 people.

“We’ve always wanted to expand our footprint in our home community,” she said. “For a long time, we didn’t think we could make people happy with a store that was smaller than our first [one]. But smaller stores that support smaller communities are what people want.”

The café in the Williston store is the most beautiful and prominent aspect of the site, Lesser-Goldsmith noted.

Café service has been modified for COVID-19, with adaptations that include salads made-to-order by a staffer rather than as a self-service food bar. Seating will be available inside and outside when the mask mandate is no longer in effect, according to Lesser-Goldsmith.

“We can’t in good conscience allow people to unmask in the store and consume food” at a business that provides an essential service, she said.

Healthy Living is launching a prepared foods/deli/café program, HL Fresh, under the direction of chef Matt Jennings. Offerings will include meals that are ready to be cooked at home, meals ready to eat (without cooking), and rotating daily specials, Lesser-Goldsmith said.
The opening of the Williston store comes after months of an "extremely busy” spell at the flagship South Burlington location, Lesser-Goldsmith said.

“People are really relying on grocery stores [during the pandemic], and we’re happy and proud to be able to serve so many people so well,” she added.

“It’s the hardest success I’ve ever had,” Lesser-Goldsmith continued. “My staff are absolutely heroes. They come to work every day. They’re brave. They face all kinds of people. They do it with a smile, and I could not be more grateful to them.”

Healthy Living in Williston is open daily from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. In addition to the two Vermont locations, the business that Lesser started in 1986 has a branch in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

"Vermont is our home and we love it here," Lesser-Goldsmith said.  "And we're so proud to create 65 new jobs in this community and serve a wider audience of customer."