Tea room Tea Rex will close later this month, after a little over a year on Cherokee Street. Owner Liz Kuba announced the news yesterday, May 13, on the shop’s Facebook page. The shop will be open intermittently throughout this month, with the last official day of business on Sunday, May 26.
Tea Rex opened last April in Earthbound Beer’s original location. The store offers organic, fair trade, and locally sourced products. Kuba was also a signatory to the Business for a Fair Minimum Wage campaign, which rallied support for the minimum wage increase passed by voters last November.
Find the best food in St. Louis
Subscribe to the St. Louis Dining In and Dining Out newsletters to stay up-to-date on the local restaurant and culinary scene.
Kuba says running Tea Rex had taken a toll and that she had taken the decision to prioritize her health. “At the beginning of the year, I realized that running the shop was starting to negatively affect my health,” Kuba wrote in the Facebook post. “As the months went on, it started to get worse and worse, until in April, it very suddenly became clear that I had to choose between the shop and my health. Every small business owner sacrifices some quantity of personal health to run their business; Tea Rex needed more than I could give.
“It’s been a wonderful few years, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Kuba added. “But, as Marie Kondo might say, it’s time for me to thank it for the experience and move on.” She also thanked friends, family, and local businesses and organizations.
Items will be marked down over the next two weeks. The shop will be closed May 16–21, then open from 8 a.m.–4 p.m. every day from May 22–May 26. From May 28–May 31, visits can be made by appointment. See the full announcement for more details.
