Framing Store and Smoothies? Owner Adapts to Survive

Mary Walker, owner of framing shop , has no background in art – she has a degree in business.

Which is telling, because Walker’s store has remained open since 1998, something that’s tough to do in a rollercoaster economy.

“I started out selling art,” says Walker. “A friend of mine that had a framing shop (in New Jersey) taught me how to frame art.”

“I can’t even draw!” she said. “I was just interested in art.”

So Walker bought the space at the corner of Prospect Place and Flatbush Avenue almost 13 years ago, opening her framing store and selling art and gifts, too.

“Back then, business was good,” she says. “But after 9/11, lots of people lost their jobs and the economy dipped.” She added that inflating rents made it hard to survive on framing alone.

So in 2005 she split her shop in two and opened a café. Walker had no culinary experience, but she knew that people “needed a place to eat, with better, healthy food that wasn’t too expensive.”

At the café, Healthy Nibbles, she focuses on organic food, serving up wraps, burgers, vegetarian dishes, fresh juice and smoothies.

 “People say, ‘That’s a weird combination!’" Walker said of the combined stores.

But it is most likely Walker’s open-minded approach to business that has brought her success.

“The economy dipped and the framing store took a hit. I knew there had to be progress, so I did what I had to do to stay afloat.”

“You have to be aware of what the demand is,” she added. “It’s tough, it’s not easy.”

Walker credits her long-standing customers who have supported her throughout the years.

“They keep me afloat,” she said.

During the interview yesterday afternoon, a neighbor of hers enjoyed a sandwich, and one regular customer popped in to ask whether Walker still had some of the soup she was serving the day before.

A Prospect Heights resident for the past 18 years, Walker says the spirit of the neighborhood hasn’t changed much – “But the rents keep going up!”

She’s proud that in addition to indulging her passion for art, she can still serve up healthy snacks for the community, too.

“Sometimes we get high school students in, and they try our juice for the first time. They’ve never had real, fresh juice before,” she said. “They go, ‘Wow, what is this?’”

Which is where Walker got the inspiration for her next dream: to expand Healthy Nibbles to low-income neighborhoods, places where residents may not have easy access to organic fruits and vegetables.

“Most of them have never had fresh juice! So that’s one of my goals,” she said.