TeaChat

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/11/14/ ... hoofinance

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=tea&ql=1

Perfect marriage.

I think i just threw up a little in my mouth reading this...

Not sure what I think about this.

Just not sure. Apathy?

HanshinTigers wrote:I think i just threw up a little in my mouth reading this...

I definitely did ...

It's unclear what the status of the current Teavana corporate heads are?

I wonder, if they get "out of the way," if the attitude in the shops will change at all?

Given the payday, I would gladly get out of the way and walk away and start drinking good tea for a change!

Yeah, ne has to wonder if the high pressure sales tactics will go away?

I think Starbuck's buying Teavana is a great thing. My dad's family is from Seattle, so we have been big SBUX fans forever. I have alot of friends who worked for SBUX in college, and they were all very happy with their employment. So maybe Teavana will start treating their employees better who will then start to treat their customers better.

Starbucks had also announced last year they were going to start opening Tazo tea houses, but I never heard anything else about it. I assume they'll skip that now. Maybe they'll combine Tazo and Teavana? When I worked for Teavana alot of customers (or potential customers) were really not interested in loose leaf (sadly) and probably would have made purchases if the could buy bagged tea.

There's a reason why Starbucks pretty much never took off in Australia, and in particular Melbourne, my hometown....'cause their products SUCK!!!

Melbourne, is the cafe capital of Australia, and without a doubt, people would choose to drink at a cafe. If it meant the difference between choosing Starbucks, or nothing, I'd go for the latter.

No offence, but I'd rather go for less quantity and more quality rather than a multinational whose products just aren't up to scratch!

Very interesting, as Teavana recently bought out Canada's Teaopia. The latter stores have been converted to Teavana shops.

I wonder what effect this new acquisition will have on the newly-minted Teavana stores here in Canada.

Best wishes,
sherubtse

I'd just be happy if they adopted better customer service practices.

Sure, the tea may be a bit expensive, and not super amazing, but I can forgive that, considering they cater to mass market. Pushy, rude employees is something I have less resilience to.

Excellent! It's the perfect marriage of overpriced, mediocre-quality beverages.

Thing is, Starbucks keeps them coming back over and over over.

I cannot imagine Teavana keeps 'em coming back for more than a few times, instead squeezing everything they can get from each customer walking through the door (for fear they may never return?) instead of looking for the long term relationship.

Two rather divergent strategies.

I am cautiously optimistic that teavana stores will improve from a shopping experience perspective. Only time will tell.

Chip wrote:Thing is, Starbucks keeps them coming back over and over over.

I cannot imagine Teavana keeps 'em coming back for more than a few times, instead squeezing everything they can get from each customer walking through the door (for fear they may never return?) instead of looking for the long term relationship.

Two rather divergent strategies.

I've always assumed that Teavana tea was better than supermarket tea bags so if someone wasn't accustomed to doing research online they could be satisfied with Teavana tea. Just a guess because I've never been in one of their stores - not after reading about them here!