DavidsTea vs Teavana

I have both a David’s and a Teavana in my immediate area, but I generally only go to Teavana for cups to go when I am at my university, which is quite far from my hometown. I went into a Teavana today with the intent to purchase loose leaf tea (as opposed to my usual cup-to-go), and I found the sales associate to be wonderful. My boyfriend was dying to try their S’mores Oolong (he is not a big tea drinker but loves to try new things), and the sales associate happily made him a fresh cup despite the store’s insistence that customers only order pre-brewed teas off the daily menu. I decided to purchase 3 ounces of the gyokuro genmaicha, something that David’s does not have, and that I ended up loving. I was not happy about the 2 ounce minimum but I probably would have purchased a fair amount of the tea even if there was no minimum. I had a coupon for $10 off of $30, and I was expecting the total to be about $30 with the cup of oolong and the loose genmaicha, but it only came to about $20 because he gave us the s’mores on the house. He also gave us a free scoop of his personal favorite tea to try at home, to thank us for being patient as he helped a more difficult customer earlier. He was going to give us the $10 off without even spending the $30 minimum for the coupon, but I didn’t want to get him in any trouble or abuse his kindness, so I had him give me $30 worth of the genmaicha (almost 6 ounces, which I don’t regret!) which I hope got him some points with his manager or someone. So, in all honesty, my first real Teavana experience was quite positive thanks to him! However, I do not love the 2 ounce minimum, and they don’t offer milk or a choice of sweeteners, which I found odd.
I have been shopping at David’s for years, have fallen in love with both traditional straight teas and some more fun, untraditional blends, and was thrilled to be offered a job there a little over a month ago! There is a much larger selection, the employees are EXTENSIVELY trained (trust me), and you can truly customize your cups of tea to go (milk options, sweetener options, and over 100 blends to choose from).
However, I think the overall experience you get at a store comes from the associate who helps you. As a retail associate, you may feel like you are doing something menial or unimportant, but you truly have the power to give people a great feeling about a brand, introduce them to something they love, and simply brighten their day. I will continue to shop at David’s (my first tea love, and where I’m currently working), but will certainly continue to visit Teavana when I see that particular employee in the store. I love tea, I love learning about tea, and I love trying new teas, so I wouldn’t limit myself to any one tea shop or retailer.
Find an employee whose energy matches yours and is willing to help, and give both places a fair chance! Happy steeping! :)

We have both types of stores near by. I will focus more on David’s Tea, because I have yet to do a lot with Teavana.

The advantage of having a local tea store is that you can wander in and pick up something you need quickly. David’s Tea will brew you any of their selections, or you can take a sample home. They stock a number of accessories and cups, pots etc.

They also have a good rewards program, and will give you 50 free grams of any tea for every $100 you spend. You do have to wait until the 3 month period is over to get your tea though, but they do roll over points except at the last of the year.

There are several disadvantages to dealing with a large chain. The first is that you are likely to find a high turn over of employees. As well, most of the employees are likely part time and not paid well. A lot of times they don’t even know what they are selling.

Tea variety is a real issue at chain stores. You have many stores, but only a small selection of each type of tea. Typically, Davids stocks a lot more fruity creations than it does actual tea. If that’s what you like, then it may be for you. My point here is that anyone who loves a particular variety of tea knows that there are countless variations. Chains tend to stifle that.

Customer service is a definite negative when you are dealing with a large chain. Most likely if you have any difficult issues to resolve, you will have to deal with their head office, which is in Montreal. The problem here is that employees are not motivated to solve your complaints. They just don’t care or have a stake in it. I recently tried to place an order for over $100 worth of tea from David’s tea, during a sale. There were no employees avsilable to help me, because it was a holiday and it was online. I was forced to wait 3 days over a long weekend before there were any people to talk to. The response I got was: “there will be other sales.” That was it. No help at all. I’m not a stupid person, and i don’t accept bad customer service. Following this in incident, I moved a good $1200 of tea a year over to another company. And in fact in 4 days I had a package of tea directly from a growing region by mail.

There are many good small online companies in the US that offer teas that they select.

Finally, if you have ever been in a real tea store, owned by someone who is passionate about tea, then you will quickly see the difference between them and a chain outlet.