The Tea Lab, a mainstay for fans of loose leaf and all things tea, announced Tuesday afternoon that it is permanently closing its downtown location in the 5th Street Arcades. The company, which opened up its postcard-sized, 200-square-foot storefront in 2014, will still operate its Lakewood counterpart.
The closure comes at a seemingly tough time for the Euclid Avenue corridor, which was once a thriving center for retail. Since late last year, a half dozen businesses in and surrounding the 5th Street Arcades have called it quits—including Cathy’s, Yum Yum’s, the Chocolate Bar and Stonefruit Coffee Co.
Then, in October, Cumberland CEO Dick Pace announced he was handing the keys of 5th Street Arcades over to international real estate behemoth CBRE, a move that’s led to raised rents for some and uncertainty of 5th Street’s viability for others.
As downtown continues to recover from the pandemic, foot traffic isn’t what it once was, say many, including Tea Lab.
“While it was the first Tea Lab store, the lack of business, people, traffic and staff shortages have made it difficult to stay open,” the company said on its Instagram page.
“The small shop downtown was our proof of concept that people would support a simple, modern, no-frills tea store without all those other clichés that define tea shops,” founder Bob Holcepl told Scene in 2014. “My gut told me that a major core of my customer base would be millennials who would appreciate the simplicity of the place.”
It’s likely that the Tea Lab’s relocation could take place sometime later this year.
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This article appears in Jan 25 – Feb 7, 2023.