Teavana

I was out this morning for an urbanscape video shoot with my friend and coworker Barbie Van Horn. Afterwards we were off to Teavana in the University Village, Seattle for a meeting at 11:00 am and invited a few clients to join us for tea.

Teavana is a new venture by Starbucks. They purchased the brand and opened their first tea bar in New York’s Upper East Side on October 24, 2013. I’ve been to Teavana in the University Village a few times over the past few months and I have to admit I really like it. And this is from a never been a tea aficionado, I’m a coffee guy.

There’s a few things going on here for me and most important... Location, location, location!

I didn’t think I liked the new super dense urban villages that are everywhere now, but I do! They are way superior to the old style malls where everything was housed within one big box.

There’s ample free parking, and it’s clustered around the locations that are why you came here in the first place. It’s a pedestrian friendly campus with a courtyard feel and most storefronts reach out to the walkways outdoors with seating, of course only appropriate when the weathers right.

Teavana is an interesting mix of totally hip urban, yet relaxed and understated in a good way. I like the sensibility, there’s lots to look at, but it’s organized, clean, and not cluttered. It’s roomy, comfy, not a loud lousy acoustic box where you can't hear, and it smells absolutely awesome! I had the Earl Grey Creme Black Tea today and I really enjoyed it. They obviously take a real effort to provide way better than a good product and the customer experience feels very genuine and real.

Today was so funny and there was a few interesting confusions... As I said we did a video shoot this morning and were looking for the possibility of shooting a few scenes here at Teavana if things went right. When we showed up there was a camera crew that had just started shooting some random video of the place and people in the shop for some web marketing. We were asked as we came through the door if we were shooting video, “well yes, we were hoping too.” Then they asked if we were with the crew that had just started shooting?

The crew, the staff, and Barbie and I had several laughs sorting it all out and sharing in the confusion. All I can say is, what a great group of people we ran into today and everyone was spontaneous and having fun. We had a lovely chat with a marketing director from Starbucks, said hello to the film crew, enjoyed several conversations with the store staff and I noticed we were in camera when they were doing some of their scenes. Who knows, maybe we’ll show up online in the video!

In the increasingly more mobile society I find myself in, what's so important about a day like today is more and more I find people to play with. I appreciate my experience and find more people like me that are simply out doing what they do, not afraid to seize the moment, the opportunity, and are willing to immediately collaborate and converse possibility to make something happen.

I appreciate savvy people who are friendly and willing to make good things happen spontaneously. If Teavana can maintain anything near the vibe I experienced today, I’m totally hooked for life!

PS... Our clients had a great time too!

René Fabre

"Where there's conversation, there's opportunity."

Please Note - The views expressed herein reflect only the individual’s personal views and are not the views of the author’s employer.