Rooted in Lincolnville: Nyk Regine Nourishes the Community Beyond the Kitchen

By Evelyn Lopez

Nyk Regine didn’t know she was returning home for good two decades ago when she visited St. Augustine to care for her elderly parents.

“I live here and work here. Not many people can say that,” Regine said.

Often referred to as the “Beet Lady,” Regine is an innovative food entrepreneur and the CEO of Royal Beets, Inc.- a unique health food company operated out of the Lincolnville Corner Market. With this business, Regine has found a way to harvest community through her personal blend of family history and culinary experimentation.

The building itself, located at 97 Martin Luther King Ave., St. Augustine, has operated as a convenience store since the 1920s, remaining continuously Black-owned since then. Before, Regine explained that it held the Lincolnville Public Library.

The history of the building is inseparable from that of her own.

“I am honored to be in this space today,” Regine said.

Her mother operated the business as a convenience store and her son took it over as a clothing market. His work renovating the interior has allowed Royal Beets into the space today.

“Lincolnville was like a food desert when I came back. I thought this would be a nice contribution to the community,” Regine said.

The smell of her mother’s peach cobbler helps to draw in locals and tourists alike, whether it is from the neighborhood, a local Airbnb or straight off the trolly tours.

Regine finds that her place offers a kind of quiet refuge from what she calls the “craziness of downtown.”

“People tend to gravitate, sit and chat. Share their stories,” Regine said.

Regine shares her own story about how her iron deficiency led her to find the untapped potential in the red rooted vegetable. Her extreme case of anemia initiated her journey and a lifelong passion for holistic health practices. This is how she discovered the extensive list of health benefits that come with consuming beets.

“I used to hate them,” she said.

Rather than abandoning the food, she began to think outside the box.

“I wanted to take beets from savory to sweet I went into my kitchen, the beet-lab, and started experimenting,” Regine said.

Today Regine has over 90 beet-based recipes. They range from various beet chocolate, honey, relish and so on.

Regine claims that she has converted many fellow beet haters. The dislike of the root was never the issue; it was the recipe that needed to be tweaked. Royal Beets uses all natural ingredients; her products do not contain high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, additives or artificial colors and flavors.

Regine’s work has transformed more than just her palate. Through Royal Beets and the Corner Market, her impact has extended to her surrounding community.

“I still remember when I was a kid- I used to come to this store, get penny cookies and candies. I try to carry some of those same goods, for sentiments sake,” she said.

Like the market, memories remain for her, but the neighborhood has continued to change over time. Regine claims that this shift affects more than just her.

“A lot of people don’t know that when a community changes, what you carry in store changes. That’s the dynamic. That is what’s important,” Regine said.

For Regine, this change is not just economic but deeply historical.

“I am happy to be here today. I mean, the NAACP used to meet here; a lot of our unsung heroes walked through this lot,” she said.

Regine doesn’t know for certain what is next for the Corner Market. But that is what is important- and what is beautiful- to her.

“I am very honored to be in this space and carry the torch of the generations before me. In whatever way we continue to evolve as a community,” she said.