A thick aroma of natural spices and herbs exudes from the color-coded wall of tea. The store is sparsely furnished, but the brightly colored product displays and upbeat alternative pop music accent the tea wall to create the trendy loose teashop that is DAVIDsTEA.
DAVIDsTEA opened in Roosevelt Field Mall six weeks ago, the first Long Island location.
Curiosity draws patrons to the smiling staff member holding a tray topped with small glasses of colorful tea. Inside the store, customers engage closely with the staff, smelling the varieties of loose tea as they pull the tins off the wall of more than 150 choices.
“The customers here are playful, I find,” said founding member and Head of Store Operations Kim Wiseman. “The customers are really into smelling and playing with the tea. It’s really different from New York where it’s a bit faster pace. People here have the time to get engaged with us.”
The tea selection that spans across an entire wall behind the counter arguably embodies the inaccessibility that connotes loose leaf tea. The company’s mission, however, is to “de-snob” the world of loose leaf tea.
DAVIDsTEA color-codes the tea tins by type from white to herbal, displaying the range of flavors. Each tin has a smelling compartment in which consumers can smell and see the leaves up close.
In its six-week infancy, the teashop is bringing “random acts of tea kindness” to their mall neighbors to promote community and “tea for all.” Store Manager Debra Rabell made her way to each storefront to introduce DAVIDsTEA. Twenty-six-year-old Long Beach resident Janine Oliver frequented the store twice by noon last Friday.
“I ran in to pick up two things,” said Oliver. “I need to get jeans from Forever21; like I need to get my tea, then go get my jeans. When I make it to the mall I make sure to come in here, definitely.”
For non-coffee drinkers like Oliver dessert teas like Read My Lips satisfy a sweet tooth but still offer a calorie-free caffeine kick.
“I feel better because it’s tea. I just feel like it’s better for me,” said Oliver. “I don’t feel bad drinking two of these in four hours, like it doesn’t have a pound of whipped cream on top.”
Originated in Montreal, Canada, DAVIDsTEA is six years young. The company continues to grow exponentially as it begins to make its way through the United States. Four stores span across Manhattan and Brooklyn.
“In three years in Canada we had a cult following,” said Wiseman. “People loved us. And we said let’s go open in the hardest market in the world, so we went to New York City.”
Roosevelt Field makes the fifth New York location. The location was the next logical step as the iconic Roosevelt Field Mall is the largest mall in New York State, according to Wiseman.
Loose leaf tea competitor Teavana being storefront neighbors down the hall in Roosevelt Field does not threaten Wiseman and DAVIDsTEA.
“Look at shoe stores,” said Wiseman. “For me, the tea industry has a lot of room to grow. It’s in its infancy right now. You know, there’s 50 shoe stores in this mall right now. As we’re building the market there’s room in the market for everyone.”
As tea is the second-most consumed beverage next to water, DAVIDsTEA brings diversity to the mall.
“It’s really nice to see something different in tea…there’s a Starbucks on every corner and I don’t drink coffee,” said Oliver.
