HANOVER — As snow continues to blanket the Upper Valley, two business owners are preparing to open a beach-themed smoothie bowl shop on South Main Street later this year.
The storefront will be the seventh Playa Bowls location for franchisees Carrie and Josh Ayers, who live in Manchester, N.H.
Hanover appealed to the couple in part because it’s close to Carrie Ayers’ hometown of West Lebanon. The couple are also hoping to entice students at Dartmouth College with their frozen fruit creations.
“It’s a great opportunity for us…A lot of Playa Bowls are located near colleges,” Josh Ayers said in a phone interview.
Founded in New Jersey, Playa Bowls specializes in acai bowls, a thick mixture of blended acai fruit that originates from Brazil. Playa Bowls’ version comes covered with chopped fruit, granola and other toppings.
“It’s something healthy,” Josh Ayers said. “You don’t feel that fullness of ‘I don’t want to eat for the next seven days.’ ”
Among the company’s most popular bowls is the Nutella Bowl: an acai base topped with blueberry and flax granola, strawberries, banana and coconut flakes, and drizzled with a thick stream of Nutella. The bowl contains 57 grams of sugar, according to Playa Bowls’ website, and sells for around $13 depending on the location.
Other Playa Bowls bases include dragon fruit, coconut, banana, mango, oatmeal and “green,” a blend of kale, banana, pineapple and coconut milk.
The company also sells smoothies, cold brew and bottled juices.
Co-founders Robert Giuliani and Abby Taylor started Playa Bowls 12 years ago in the beach-side borough of Belmar, N.J. They took inspiration from the acai and dragon fruit smoothie bowls they came across on surfing trips to sunny destinations such as Costa Rica and Puerto Rico, and they wanted to offer something similar in their native New Jersey.
Since those early days the chain has amassed over 300 locations nationwide including the Ayers’ seven New Hampshire stores. On the Vermont side, there is a Playa Bowls in South Burlington.
In 2024, Sycamore Partners, a New York-based private equity firm, acquired Playa Bowls.
Dartmouth College postdoctoral research associate Samantha Roth would sometimes visit the Playa Bowls location in State College, Penn., when she was in graduate school at Pennsylvania State University.
“I guess it’s good that we’ll have more variety in town,” she said of the new Hanover store in a Tuesday interview on campus.
Playa Bowls will move in next to Nugget Theaters, in the storefront formerly occupied by the Nest Kitchen and Cafe, which closed its doors last year.
The Ayers are leasing the space from the Hanover Improvement Society, a nonprofit that oversees Storrs Pond Recreation Area, Campion Rink, the Nugget and two retail properties next to the theater: the Playa Bowls location and Hanover Scoops, an ice cream shop a few doors down.
Even though Playa Bowls is a chain, the Hanover franchise’s owners are “local to New England,” Jeff Graham, Hanover Improvement Society’s former executive director, said. (Graham retired earlier this week after serving in the position for 12 years. Jennifer Rickards is the new executive director.)
Both Graham and Josh Ayers declined to disclose how much it costs to lease the space.
Construction is currently underway to give the store Playa Bowls’ signature “beach vibe” using surf-themed murals and repurposed wood detailing, Josh Ayers said.
He and Carrie Ayers are aiming to unveil the store in April. The hours are expected to be 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, and 8 a .m. to 9 p.m. from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
The couple usually employ about 30 staff at a given location because many of them are high school or college students working part-time, Josh Ayers said.
They’ve already hired a manager for the Hanover location, which Josh Ayers plans to oversee for the first month or two.
The Ayers aren’t the only franchisees in the smoothie business to set up their blenders in the Upper Valley.
Tropical Smoothie Cafe and Planet Smoothie, two national chains, opened in the Route 12A corridor in West Lebanon last year.
“There’s enough business for everyone,” Planet Smoothie franchisee Seth Cox said about Playa Bowls setting up shop in Hanover.
My Brigadeiro, a Brazilian bakery and cafe down the street from the Hanover Playa Bowls, also sells acai bowls.
“We welcome new business to the area. More activity on South Main Street brings more visibility for everyone,” Paula Fernandes, My Brigadeiro’s owner and founder, said in an email.
“We are confident in the relationship we’ve built and the loyalty of our community,” she added.