EmmaBelle's, A New Wellness-Focused Grocery Shop And Café, To Open On The UES

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Sisters Emma and Lyla Dowhie are preparing to open a small grocery and café on the Upper East Side, built around foods they say are often hard to find without additives and other ingredients they avoid.

EmmaBelle’s Health Food Shoppe, located at 1265 Madison Ave., near East 91st Street, will offer better-for-you groceries as well as a grab-and-go café with rotating meals prepared by a private chef.

The store bans more than 2,700 ingredients — including all sorts of hard-to-pronounce artificial food colorings, emulsifiers, preservatives and refined sugars, the sisters told Patch.

The café plans to serve coffee with oat and almond milks made in-store, with maple syrup and honey for sweeteners.

"More things are banned than aren’t banned," Emma said of the store’s approach, which excludes preservatives, seed oils and refined sugars. "The store is about what’s not on the shelves."

The sisters, who grew up on the Upper East Side and later in Chelsea, said they wanted to create a neighborhood grocery that could serve families and become part of residents’ everyday routines — something they remember fondly from their childhood.

Growing up in Manhattan, "The act of grocery shopping was like an event in and of itself," Emma said.

"You were going to one store to get this product, you were going to another store to get another product, and it just felt like you were seeing so many familiar faces," Emma said. "I feel so excited to be a part of that experience on the Upper East Side."

Both founders are changing careers to open the shop. Emma previously worked as a public defender in the Bronx, while Lyla worked as a model and photographer.

Though they loved their previous careers, the idea for the grocery store grew, in part, from their mother’s experience with Hashimoto’s disease, which later became Graves’ disease.

The sisters said their mother’s restrictive autoimmune protocol diet inspired them to seek out products that would make it easier for people with dietary needs to shop.

"It was so incredibly hard for her to eat and enjoy life, and I think just like seeing that, and also trying to support her, we were like inspired to come up with all of these different products that actually fulfill her needs, and anyone else who's struggling with something like this," Lyla said.

Lyla said she is looking forward to giving smaller food brands a place to reach customers.

"There are so many small brands that have such good ingredients, and they care about the way that their products are being made. And I'm excited to give them a platform," Lyla said.

The sisters said they are training staff and stocking shelves, and expect to open the week of Nov. 16.

Know of a business opening or closing in Manhattan? Email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.