North End is back under new ownership and reopens on Saturday

When most people hear Patrick Murtaugh’s name, they think beer. He co-founded Hardywood Park Craft Brewery and spent years helping build one of Richmond’s best-known breweries. So a smoothie shop isn’t the move you’d expect. It’s the one he’s making anyway.

Murtaugh and his wife, Stephanie, a hospitality and event professional, have bought the former North End Juice Co. in the Museum District. They’re reopening it this month under a trimmed-down name: North End. The shop returns with walk-up service, with online ordering and call-ahead pickup on the way and a sit-in space planned for later this summer.

For Patrick, it’s less of a career swerve than it sounds. The throughline is making things.

“Pat’s always creating,” Stephanie said. “Whether it’s brewing beer, making sourdough at home, custom syrups, experimenting with recipes, or thinking through flavors, that creative drive has always been there. This feels like a new chapter of that: creating something everyday, approachable, and community-focused.”

What North End will actually serve

The plan is to keep things simple and filling. North End will lean on nutrient-dense smoothies and grab-and-go staples built for people on the move, whether that’s breakfast before work, a smoothie after a match, or a stop after a bike ride through the neighborhood.

The menu is staying streamlined on purpose, with a few callbacks to what regulars have been missing. The Blue Suede Shoes smoothie is coming back. Alongside it are new staples, wellness-focused options, breakfast burritos, and a “draft” beverage that feels like a natural carryover from Patrick’s brewing days. To shape it, the couple is working with Richmond chef Jason Alley, with a focus on quality ingredients, comfort, and consistency.

A neighborhood spot, run by neighbors

This isn’t an arm’s-length investment. The Murtaughs used to live nearby and were customers themselves, and their kids are already hooked.

“Our kids have been chasing down Pat’s smoothies for years at home,” Stephanie said. “Opening a smoothie shop may seem unexpected coming from beer, but moving into something everyone can enjoy, and something our kids can grow up around and love too, felt incredibly aligned with where we are in life.”

The response to the reopening has clearly stuck with them.

“We’ve loved the outpouring of support from people sharing what North End meant to them,” Patrick said. “Notes under the door, stories from regulars, memories tied to this place. We felt that too. We wanted to bring it back in a way that honors what people loved while creating something our own family would want to visit every week.”

The shop sits on Cleveland Street, next to neighborhood businesses the couple counts as favorites, including Paix Coffee and Rexxco Vintage. They’re also planning to keep community involvement central, with support for wellness programs and healthy food access in Richmond schools and underserved areas.

For now, North End will be open Thursday through Monday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., with order-ahead options coming soon.

It’s a different product than the one that made Murtaugh’s name. But the bet is the same one that built it: give people something they’ll want to come back for, week after week.