Starbucks is now closing Teavana, its tiny chain of standalone tea bars, 27 months after opening the first of the five tea outlets.
According to Buzz Feed, Starbucks opened the first Teavana Tea Bar in October 2013, after acquiring the tea retailer Teavana in 2012. The coffee company once saw a massive future selling tea in the U.S.
"Tea presents a $90 billion global market opportunity, and we are excited to celebrate the first retail example of how our two companies are coming together," said Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO during the launch.
Now, the company stated that by the end of April, it will convert the three Teavana tea bar locations in New York into Starbucks stores. It will shut its Beverly Hills location while the Seattle location will still operate.
Apparently, Americans are not that excited about tea, even if it is endorsed by Starbucks. The coffee giant just reported record revenues in its most recent quarter, and the announcement shows the company's setbacks developing its other small brands.
Teavana is not the first retail operation that was abandoned by Starbucks. It recently closed all 23 La Boulange stand-alone locations, the two manufacturing facilities that are serving the baked goods and the Evolution Fresh retail location in San Francisco.
Starbucks has since included the La Boulange and Teavana brands onto the menus of Starbucks stores, as reported by Denver Post.
Christina McPherson, Starbucks Corp. representative said that the closure of the Teavana tea bars will not change the company's "commitment to tea." She added that the idea is to provide the tea options through Starbucks stores instead, since it has a better brand.
"Focusing our investments on bringing an up-leveled tea experience to our customers through Starbucks stores and our Teavana specialty stores will allow us to reach more customers through our broad footprint," said Teavana spokeswoman Alisa Martinez in an email.
