Rox Etheridge knows her way around a New Paltz bar. As a SUNY New Paltz student in the 1990s, she frequented the college town’s drinking establishments. These days, her regular order involves considerably more produce. “Juice has become my new alcohol,” says Etheridge, who purchased Green Bar in 2025 after becoming a devoted customer.
The connection runs deeper than a change of beverage. At her shop at 117 Main Street, Etheridge has cultivated some of the pleasures of a neighborhood pub: moody colors, a big leather couch, familiar faces, and an invitation to settle in. There are games for adults, activities for children, a community table, and free Wi-Fi. Buying something isn’t a prerequisite for spending time there.
“I wanted it to feel like a place where you can actually sit and do work, where you can find community and play games,” she says.
A 1997 SUNY New Paltz graduate, Etheridge spent years trying to return to the town with her family, eventually finding the right house in 2023. While recovering from Lyme disease and an autoimmune disorder and following a restricted diet, she discovered Green Bar as somewhere she could comfortably order food. When Etheridge learned it was for sale, she saw an opportunity to preserve a resource she valued.
That experience informs her attention to ingredients. All the shop’s produce is organic, and she seeks organic, local, or sustainably sourced options throughout the menu. When customers want to examine an ingredient list, she happily brings out the packaging. “We don’t have anything to hide and we’re pretty transparent with everything,” she says.
The acai bowls illustrate that approach. Each morning, the staff blends unsweetened acai pulp with bananas and strawberries, without added gums or refined sugar in the base. Customers choose their toppings, from fruit and granola to Nutella. Green Bar makes room for wheatgrass enthusiasts and chocolate lovers alike.
For a first visit, she recommends the Coffee Date, the shop’s most popular shake, which combines almond milk, coffee, dates, and banana. The Solar Flare smoothie brings together banana, mango, spinach, apple juice, and coconut water. For something more substantial, quinoa bowls offer combinations of vegetables, beans, eggs, or tuna. Toasts start with sourdough supplied by neighboring Apizza, a local partnership Etheridge is particularly proud of.
Green Bar’s regulars include parents with toddlers, middle schoolers sharing a bowl after class, and hikers and cyclists fueling an outing. Smaller acai portions offer a more affordable option, and parents can split a large smoothie into adult and child cups. The Rainbow Connection, a community giving board, lets customers pay forward purchases for others.
Etheridge is exploring additional local collaborations, wellness talks, and a curated marketplace featuring some of the ingredients the shop uses. For now, the everyday exchanges are central to her vision: someone finding a dependable lunch, kids doing homework, neighbors taking a seat. “It’s nice to sometimes just have people to talk to,” she says. At Green Bar, the couch and community table give them somewhere to start.
Green Bar, 117 Main Street, New Paltz. (845) 419-2020.
Produced by the Chronogram Media Branded Content Studio.
This article appears in November 2026.
