Tea room on 2nd flr?

I know it is a bit late to reply to your message, but thought I would give you my opinion.
Your location really will be dictated by the type of clients you are seeking. The second floor location might be great because you will have a built in clientele of those occupying the upper floors, who will come in casually, and may become regulars. The real tea aficionados will find you as well if you have decent advertising and/or signage. The ground floor location is great if you are depending primarily on walk-in or drive-by customers. Tea lounges are so rare in my area, that you really have to search to find one… that also has a great deal to do in where you locate. Good luck with your venture.

locations 2 would be easier to start the new business, but if choose Location 1 for the further business would be a very good choice for many tea lovers, but need to have patience, need more publicity. for a tea lover it would be the same if you have teahouse on the second floor, if you offer good teas, we will come but the first need to let tea lovers know that there is a good teahouse.
good luck!

Depends on what KIND of tea room you want to have. What KIND of crowd you want to entice. What KIND of decor your tea room will have. There are so many demographics and ways to market any business.
The first location would appeal to me personally as I am into massage, yoga, etc.
The second location may be difficult if there are people living above and you have a lot of busy traffic.

on the other hand….visibility and foot traffic can be great free marketing. who hasnt wandered by a dinning room and admired the decor and the mystery of what is offered inside?

(just playing devils advocate)

Agreed! I can see both sides of it. It comes down to SO many elements really – are both renting for around the same price? If you can get upper level cheap enough to put the savings into a great sign and marketing then that is good.

Thanks to all of you! From what I know, this will be a tea lounge with a chic/urban style. The rents are very different as you can guess. The first floor is a bit more expensive plus there are buildout costs. The 2nd floor is about $1000 a month but I would think marketing and signage would cost more because it would have to be seen more. I’m actually still stuck on what to say. I’ve played devil’s advocate as well. It’s important to note that the 2nd floor is on a well known street with lots of foot traffic, while the 1st floor is on a side street with little foot traffic on the street itself…but lots on the surrounding streets.