Trap Haüs opened its newest location last Saturday, May 17, bringing pure juices and smoothie bowls to Mid City.

Located at 1300 Government St., in the blocks between Red Stick Social and Interstate 110, the new shop is the brand’s third location since opening in 2022, with others in New Roads and on Southern University’s campus. Trap Haüs focuses on natural, pure living inspired by owner Terrez Collins’ background as a nurse for almost 20 years. 

“The evidence is clear. Nutrition can help heal, help people feel better, all that good stuff,” Collins says. “I wanted to make getting healthy or healing yourself easy, accessible, fun (and) trendy, if you will.” 

The name itself comes from Collins’ idea that everything we consume—herbs, teas and spices—is a drug. The term “trap house” is commonly connected to drugs. In this sense, Collins says she is “slinging drugs,” but in the purest, most natural form.  

The Mid City location features a fresh smoothie bar, a fridge stocked with fruits and C.A.K.E.D. Juice Co. juices, a full kitchen that will serve Southern comfort food dishes with a vegan twist, and a forthcoming produce grocery store.  

The convenience store turned wellness bar is clean and green. The grey concrete floors and white walls accented by green pipe light fixtures and plants create a bright and open atmosphere.  

Off to one corner is the smoothie bar, decorated with wooden slats and plants to accent the all-natural food. The smoothie bar contains various fruits and add-ons to create custom smoothies and acai bowls. Featuring the usual suspects like granola, strawberry, banana and coconut, the selection will also have seasonal fruits like mangos and additional items like hemp, chia seeds and bee pollen for an additional health boost.  

“We’ll have hemp seed and people will be like, ‘Oh, what’s that? I’ve never seen that before.’ (We’ll say,) ‘Well, it’s good for this,’” Collins says. “Education is always involved.” 

The other corner of the store features a community table in front of a smoothie bowl-inspired art installation, as well as other seats located around the area for guests to lounge and sip smoothies.

While this location is similar to Trap Haüs’ others, the kitchen at the Mid City location is what sets it apart. While the Southern University wellness bar serves small snacks, the new location will offer an evolving menu with various plant-based dishes.  

Collins says the menu is still in the works, but she plans to offer vegan dishes inspired by Southern comfort food and soul food. This week, the shop introduced red beans and rice, crispy fried mushrooms and cauliflower. 

“There is going to be comfort foods as far as fried foods, because you can’t just take the fried foods away, even for me,” Collins says.  

A fridge full of C.A.K.E.D. juices, created at Trap Haüs’ original location in New Roads, is also available with grab-and-go options. C.A.K.E.D. is named after the various vitamins the body needs, like vitamins C and A. The natural juices are made with various raw, non-processed fruits, vegetables and spices with different benefits, including detoxing and energy. Each juice is named after a different cake, such as red velvet or carrot cake. Staying true to the name, each bottle is triangular to resemble a slice of cake, and if put together, six slices create a whole cake.

The style and decor of the Mid City location go along with Trap Haüs’ other locations, with green being the main tie-in. The store also has witty floor stickers, which connect back to the name’s origin and jokes about getting a fix with no rehab needed. 

Collins chose green as a main design element for the store because it represents natural foods, and also because of its spiritual connection the heart chakra, which promotes ideas of self-healing.

 “The heart chakra is green. That represents love, life,” Collins says. “When somebody comes in, (they) should feel at ease. You should feel love. You should feel good vibes.”  

That feeling of love is also something Collins wants customers to feel when they drink her juices, as seen in her drink “Vitamin L,” with L standing for love.  

“We always incorporate love into everything that we do,” Collins says. “A lot of people usually miss putting love back into themselves, so we just wanted to put it into a juice.”  

Collins also emulates the feeling of spiritual ease when running the business. The Mid City location has been in the works for about a year, and while Collins has plans for more growth, she says she is going with the flow and waiting to see how the plan rolls out.  

A produce grocery store and a mobile wellness van are in development, but Collins says she is taking her time. 

“I just go with the flow, once you start trying to (say) ‘It’s going to go like this. I’m going to do this. This is going to happen at this time,’ you will be upset every single time,” she says. “You always have to give yourself gratitude and grace for what you’re doing, how far you’ve come.”

Trap Haüs is located at 1300 Government St. It is currently open Friday, Saturday and Monday from 8 a.m.-5 p.m., but hours are subject to change. Find it on Instagram at @the_trap_haus for updates. 

This article originally appeared in 225 magazine’s 225 Daily newsletter.