This is one of those sad news/good news stories.
The sad news is Oregon Street Tea Company, Loose Tea & Gift Shop, one of my favorite downtown places, will close its doors Sept. 20.
It opened December, 2006.
Kathryn Barker, who owns the tea shop with husband Phillip Barker, said they’d tried to make a go of it. She said many factors, including a sagging economy and their niche retail establishment that required a larger population base to survive, worked against them.
The good news is the Barkers will offer their tea-related inventory online.
The sad news is that Oregon Street Tea Co., a beautiful, light-and-airy space with high ceilings and soothing colors, is the second business to leave that location. (The first was the beer and wine section of Nancy and Bryan Matthews’ Bry’s Specialty Grocery & Catering. It lasted from October 2003 to March of 2005. Barker credits Bryan Mathews for having the vision to remodel the former Farmers Electric building into a thing of beauty. The lion’s share of the old Bry’s space is now Oregon Street Antiques.)
The good news is that yet another business will soon put down roots in that space soon. More about that in a second.
Tuesday, Kathryn Barker stood in her store, surrounded by every imaginable tea-related product. And by the way, most of those items are now available at 50 percent off, perfect for early Christmas shopping.
Kathryn Barker isn’t bitter. She’s practical.
“It was a great dream; exactly what I wanted, done just the way I wanted,” she said. “It just wasn’t profitable.”
Barker said she’ll always wonder whether the business would have done better if ArtHop had come to Redding a few years sooner, since Oregon Street Tea Co. has enjoyed many ArtHop visitors since its summer inception.
The Barkers gave it their best shot. They started big with a tea shop and restaurant,. When that didn’t work, they downsized to a tea shop and special-events location. Now, the Barkers will sell their tea-related inventory – including a warehouse full of tea banks they designed and had made especially for them – online.
“Really, I’m happy,” Kathryn Barker said. “I’m grateful for the experience we had here. I did it! For me, I’m like, OK, now what’s the next experience?”
We wish the Barkers the very best of luck with whatever experiences come next for them.
Oh, and by the way, watch for something new to fill that Oregon Street location by the year’s end.
Hint No. 1: It’s a restaurant.
Hint No. 2: You’re probably familiar with the owner.
