Starbucks closing all Teavana retail stores
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/27/starbucks-third-quarter-earnings-report-2017.html
This is too bad. They were not the best but it was nice to be able to stop at a tea store a mile and a half from my apartment.
That’s a lot of retail space opening up. I feel bad for all the employees who thought the Starbucks aquisition was pushing things for the better.
I did find this on Starbucks’ website so maybe they’ll be helping the Teavana associates to transition if they’d like to continue working for the company.
“The approximately 3,300 partners impacted by these closures will receive opportunities to apply for positions at Starbucks stores, as Starbucks remains on track to create 240,000 new jobs globally and 68,000 in the U.S. over the next five years.”
Opportunities to apply is not the same as transferring employees. Basically “you’re welcome to start over.”
Yeah, it seems like if any of those people wanted to work at Starbucks they would have worked there already.
I missed that before, but you’re both right – it does look like they would just be starting over. I think I was just being too optimistic, but it seems there really isn’t anything positive to come out of this change for those involved.
You never know, they might have DavidsTea or other tea shops able to move in.
Apparently, many Teavana locations had no complete clause contracts with malls, so no other tea shops were allowed in the same building.
That might happen with a few locations, but with the way Davids tea is going I doubt they will be able to do such a rapid expansion before the unemployment checks stop coming.
Has anyone heard if this will include online sales as well? I’m sad to hear this, but I’m hoping it’s only store-front locations. I do have a couple of blends from Teavana that I really love.
The post explicitly mentioned retail stores,not the brand. I suspect they will be promoting teavana at the Starbucks locations, and also maintain the website. They paid $620 million for Teavana less than 5 years ago.
According to the Teavana employee I talked to yesterday, they will sell some bagged teas at Starbucks, but no loose leaf will be available in Starbucks stores and the website will be shut down.
That is not good to hear. I really enjoy their blueberry rooibos and their Spice Of Life blend. Their Earl Grey is a good buy for the money also.
Shut down website? Doesn’t make sense, there must be other companies out there that are willing to buy teavana at the right price.
Haven’t shopped there in a long time but this is sad news. Teavana is where I first discovered quality tea and they’ve done a lot to bring tea into the mainstream.
I heard Teavana is selling well at Starbucks stores so it will be around in some form. Perhaps they’ll continue to maintain an online presence too.
The first loose leaf tea that I tried came from a Teavana store and it helped start my journey into tea. Although I don’t drink tea from Teavana anymore, the closings are sad to hear about.
I could see them keeping the online store open since that’s easy enough to do. Kind of makes sense just sell out of the Starbucks’ store instead of having two separate stores. On the upside there might be discounts on their tea to clean up inventory…
Honestly I’m not very sad… ever since Teavana was bought by Starbucks I’ve disliked their teas. I do hope this leaves room for another tea company to move up though!
To be honest, I was never a big fan of teavana. You could get better tea for less money online, and the sales techniques there were so aggressive that it wasn’t fun to shop there. Of course any tea related loss is a shame, but it’s not a big deal to me.
I never bought anything from Teavana… the only tea I tried was the Oprah Chai at Starbucks and I hated it.
Oprah chai was one of the worst Teavana concoctions ever. And they promoted the heck out of it. A few of their older blends like Fruta Bomba and Peach Tranquility were pretty good. I might stock up if they’re discounted.
Glad to know it wasn’t just me. Other people seemed to love Oprah chai, and there I was trying to scrape it off my tongue. I tasted one or two while shopping (don’t remember which ones) and they seemed okay. By then my stash was already too big and I couldn’t add any more. Whenever somewhere is closing I always order my faves before they disappear. (Good Morning Sunshine, Laoshan Chai, etc..) If there is a discount I may check my local teavana and see if I like anything :D
My sister-in-law used to give me Teavana gift certs for Christmas. I usually bought in the after-Christmas sales on-line, and found a mixed bag: a few really good teas and some I had to just throw out.
Yeah but that’s about the same for most tea places. I like a few DT blends and others get spit out. It all depends on the person and the tea.
Hey guys…just got done with my “emergency store meeting” at Teavana. I worked there last summer for a bit and had just started up again earlier in the week to make some extra money. While I don’t always agree with some of Teavana’s sales practices over the years, I will always be grateful to them for introducing me to higher quality loose leaf tea. I will be fine as I have a primary job anyways, but I feel bad for my fellow employees who’ve spent years moving up the chain of Managment with the company. There’s many things I’m not authorized to speak on but theres still quite a lot of time for many of the bigger market stores before they close up shop. I’m disappointed that they are going to shut down the website as well. Those who want to stock up on favorites should do so sooner rather than later. There will be no liquidation sale so don’t expect to be able to wait for massive discounts. Thankfully my tastes have moved away from the sugary, fruitier options and I mainly drink pure oolongs and puerh. Sorry for the long post haha.
They’re going to shut down the website too?? That’s unfortunate. It seems like it wouldn’t be too much to keep the website open.
I also work for Teavana – not authorized to say much, but obritten covered most of it. I will say Starbucks is doing an amazing job with helping people in my facility through this transition.
well I might try a few teas anyway. Not a fan of the overly sugary stuff but I think they have a few naked teas that might be okay.
Ditto fellow partners! I went through this with them when the tea bars closed so it’s a pretty unpleasant deja vu.
I am sorry to hear people are losing their jobs.
I felt like the sales practices in the Teavana near me greatly improved when Starbucks bought them. But then again I’m a tall, big, strong man that is not easily intimated by most people.
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