SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.
DavidsTea, which received $14 million expansion funding this spring, announced that it is opening the first three of several San Francisco Bay Area shops next month.
The stores will be located on Polk St. in the Russian Hill are of San Francisco and on 24th St. in the Noe Valley along with a downtown Burlingame location, south of the city.
The Montreal-based company announced that it is scouting for other locations and expects to open a shop in downtown San Francisco and on Chestnut Street.
DavidsTea is hoping to spark a tea culture revolution. “We love tea, and we think we can get people to love it here too,” founder David Segal told the San Francisco Business Journal.
In April Highland Capital Management invested $14 million in the venture. The company recently hired CEO Jevin Eagle who was a top executive at Staples. Kathie Lindemann is the company’s new chief operating officer and a former Starbucks senior vice president.
The shops are modeled after the chain’s 68 Canadian locations and two New York City stores on Bleaker Street and at 3rd Ave. that opened in November 2011.
DavidsTea offers 150 varieties of loose-leaf for between $6 and $8 a pouch. Cups are sold for $3 in-store.
DavidsTea was founded in 2008 and financed by Hershel Segal. The firm now employs 1,050 and anticipates opening 30 stores by the end of this year.
Segal said expansion into San Francisco “was really a no-brainer market for us. We look for people that are engaged in their community and shop locally -- and that’s San Francisco.”
Source: BizJournals