About Us

Brightly-painted, row-house businesses between N Morris and N Brunswick on Main Street in Richmond, Virginia

A native of Virginia Beach, I visited Richmond in 1989 for a campus visit to VCU. As I was leaving the campus, I turned off of Harrison onto W Main Street, and there they were: my first taste of the cool, local, Richmond vibe.

I trained to be a glassblower and ceramist at VCU while I worked at a store off of Malvern named If It's Paper. Though it wasn't A RICHMOND ORIGINAL, the manager, Paul Hundley, certainly was.

Paul introduced me to my first Padow's Hams and Deli country ham biscuit and my first dolmades from The Grapevine. Paul also introduced me to Buz & Ned's while they were still a food cart downtown, and I'm proud to say that I did one of their first chalk art menus.

One story I frequently tell is about Ben & Jerry's. Twice, they tried to establish themselves in Carytown, but it didn't stick. But Bev's Homemade Ice Cream and Cafe is right there up the street, and Bev's followers are loyal. Ben & Jerry's never made it here, and that's always made me "local proud."

When Ukrop's grocery stores were still around back in the 90s, I'd often take visiting consultants to Ukrop's for lunch. "A grocery store for lunch?" We'd laugh about it, but they loved it. One day, one of our consultants got to the cashier with his hot, freshly made sandwich and realized that he'd forgotten his wallet. "Go eat your lunch. I don't want it to get cold. Next time you come in, you can pay for it. Enjoy!" And he did.

Several years ago, a friend was driving through the RVA and wanted to talk business over a warm breakfast. I suggested The Dairy Bar, but when I called, they told me that breakfast was ending and we wouldn't make it in time. But the owner stopped me. "Tell me what you want. When you get here, it'll be on the table." And when we got there, they filled up our table with their usual yummy breakfast goodness.

These are the things, the people, that make Richmond local great, different, and original.

For years, I had a dream to open our own small, locally-owned business on Richmond's Southside, and we finally opened The Yeti Shave Ice - A RICHMOND ORIGINAL. It was a shave ice food truck at Chesterfield Towne Center, and we had a blast serving Richmond's best shave ice (it really was!).

Though the business model was fun, it wasn't sustainable at the time. But out of it was born A RICHMOND ORIGINAL.

We'll be sharing our stories and promoting the types of businesses, organizations, and brands that have made Richmond such a special place to live and raise a family (our own Richmond originals!).

And we'd love for you to share your stories, too.

Best,

Liz B. Baker, Founder & Owner