Sarah Lay found a way to turn her love for her favorite tea into a career of her own.

Lay, a lifelong Mexico resident, officially cut the ribbon at her new storefront, ReLay Nutrition, at 731 E. Liberty Street Thursday.

ReLay Nutrition is an expansion of The Nutrition Spot, which was established by Chandlar and Dominik Vlk four years ago. Six months after opening, Mikayla Duff of Centralia took over the business.

“We sell meal replacement shakes and energizing teas,” Duff said. “It’s just a really good alternative to fast food or something fast that you can come get that’s nutritious instead of greasy.”

Lay was a regular at The Nutrition Spot who came in every day. Eventually, she started selling their tea kits to make some money.

“Since we opened, we’ve just steadily grown,” Duff said. “Since we’ve gotten so busy, we kind of just wanted to branch out instead of having more employees at The Nutrition Spot (and) we thought maybe another place in town would be good for people who maybe can’t go all the way to the other side of town.”

So when The Nutrition Spot was ready to expand, the owners reached out to Lay.

“She’s been talking about opening a club for a while now; we just couldn't find a good space or didn’t know where to put it,” Duff said. “Now she is the sole owner at ReLay and we’re just kind of partnered together; we sell the same items.”

Lay said having Duff there to support her has been a reassuring experience while she learns how to be a business owner.

“It has been a dream come true,” Lay said. “It is everything I was hoping it would be.”