Behind a colorful mural, inside a storefront in Little Haiti, the scent hits first—slightly sweet incense reminiscent of a Caribbean vacation. Hundreds of dried leaves hang in clear bags along the colorful walls, the words “Eat 2 Live” are painted in white. Sheer curtains drape overhead.
Welcome to Vegan Marie – owner Marie Sanon-Jules’ part thrift store, part vegan kitchen and part herbal apothecary.
Six years ago, the space at 274 NW 54th St. looked different. Clothes hung where herbs now occupy the shelves. Jewelry, books and purses filled the store. It was a thrift and gift shop run by her family.
Then one day, Marie cooked some stew.
“A customer came in,” her daughter, Myrchie, recalls, “and they were like, ‘Can I get some of that?’”
She made them a plate, then another and then another.
Soon she was making more reimagined Haitian dishes: legume folded into wraps, chickpeas layered into sandwiches, and garden rice with pigeon peas and turmeric. Regulars began showing up just for the food. Some traveled far.
“The most popular dish is definitely the wrap,” she says. “People come from far for that.”
Marie is a mother of two daughters who fled dictatorship in Haiti to immigrate here 24 years ago. She and her husband, Schiller Sanon-Jules, first opened the Little Haiti Thrift & Gift Store in 2011 at 5863 NE Second Ave (almost a mile away from the present store), as a tribute to her heritage.
They were forced to close that location in 2017 due to the combined impact of the pandemic and doubling of rent tied to the Magic City Innovation District.
They then opened a new store in the Caribbean Marketplace in Little Haiti, where they operated for nearly three years.
In 2020, they launched another location at 274 NW 54th St., but kept the idea of the thrift store alive and added food.
Slowly, they began selling herbs.
Marie’s 12–year–old grandson Jordan works at The Vegan Marie. He shared more about his family’s business.
“My grandma said back in Haiti, they do their herbal remedies,” he said. “They’re herbalists.”
At first, the shop carried just a few – but now, after increased interest, there are more than 100.
They’re stacked in jars and bags: soursop leaves, papaya leaves and mango leaves. Beetroot powder. Hawthorn berry. Tonkat ali. Blends like “7 Healing Herbs” are mixed and measured in-house. Everything can be taken as tea or ground into powder.
People don’t just come to browse; they come with problems.
There’s a fridge outside stocked with free food for those who need it, the owners have conversations that stretch long past transactions and a belief that healing requires participation.
On an average day, about 20 to 25 people pass through. Fewer than the family would like.
However, they don’t blame their products; they blame the lack of visibility.
“Diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, insomnia– you can come here and get natural herbs,” Marie’s daughter Myrchie says.
The language inside the shop is different from a clinic. Customers don’t just list symptoms, they tell stories and Marie listens for the cause.
“She tries to help you figure out what the root cause of your issue is,” Myrchie explained.
Part of what pushed Marie deeper into herbal medicine came through a screen.
Night after night, she fell asleep to lectures by Dr. Sebi, the controversial herbalist known for his teachings on diet and natural healing.
“She kept listening…what to eat, what not to eat, what to do, what not to do,” said Myrchie.
Something in his teachings resonated with what had been passed down culturally. That influence helped guide her toward veganism, a shift she committed to more than six years ago. It also shaped how she now advises others: not just offering herbs, but encouraging a complete lifestyle change.
“What Mimi’s doing with other people,” Jordan says, “is what Dr. Sebi was doing.”
For this family, herbal medicine isn’t trendy; it’s personal.
Marie’s husband, Schiller, 63, has survived six strokes. He is still here walking, talking and eating today.
“Seeing that he’s alive right now, those are the herbs,” Jordan says.
During one of his strokes, Marie used kitchen remedies like nutmeg or cayenne pepper to stabilize him before the hospital.
“I think that really helped her take it more seriously,” Myrchie says. “Realizing how effective it was in her husband’s life.”
There are other stories, too. One customer returned after weeks on herbal regimens, lighter, clearer-skinned, almost unrecognizable.
“He came back, and I’m like, wow,” she says. “You look different.”
But not every story ends that way.
Jordan remembers a woman who came in with cancer, considering chemotherapy. Marie urged her to try a different path, offered herbs and guidance. Two weeks later, a friend returned with the news: she had gone through with chemo and didn’t survive.
However, nothing here is sold as a quick fix.
“It’s not a one-time thing with the herbs,” Jordan says. “It’s a lifestyle.”
That idea shapes everything their business stands for, from the vegan menu to the consultations. The food and the medicine are part of the same system of care.
“There’s a lot of people in the community suffering,” Myrchie says. “They don’t know that natural food heals you.”
