Adagio's First Retail Shop

Charles Cain - May 21st 2010

After a surprisingly long search and negotiation I am excited to announce that Adagio's first brick-and-mortar tea retail store will be at 27 W. Jefferson in Naperville, Illinois sometime in late August of 2010. (Click here for "before" pictures of the space.)

This location is a little "quieter" and lower profile than will be common for any future Adagio stores, but I wanted to first test the model in a less expensive space where we could really get creative. We're leasing 1,800 square feet of space (plus a basement for storage). Since we're not planning on including any customer seating (read more on the model here), this gives us a tremendous amount of space to play with tea. Read more about the planned design of the store here.

Based on my experience, I'm estimating that the break-even line will be at or a little under $350,000 in annual sales. I'm confident that we can do at least that in the first 12 months. How much the space is capable of is anyone's guess.

While Naperville isn't a big city, and the rents per square foot are less than half of the other spaces we're looking at, I am excited about the prospects of this location. Here are a few of the characteristics that gave me reason to believe a retail tea shop would be successful here:

Sales per square foot in the area range between $400 and $800 for retail ($1,000+ for some of the restaurants) according to local brokers and business owners.
The Starbucks on the corner nearby purportedly does a little over a million in annual sales out of less than 1,000 square feet.
The most recent additions to Jefferson Street include an Apple Store and Lulu Lemon. Other notable neighbors include housewares retailers like Sur La Table, William Sonoma and Restoration Hardware; clothiers like Ann Taylor, Gap, and Coldwater Creek; restaurants like Hugo's Frog Bar, Sullivan's Steakhouse and Catch 35; and a host of boutique specialty retailers.
220,000 people live within five miles and the area draws from all over Chicago land for festivals and events.
Average household income in the area is $110,000.
Naperville is the "hottest" suburban downtown in the Chicago Metropolitan area.

Now that we're kicking our development into high speed you'll be seeing a lot more updates on the planning and execution of our first Tea Retail Store. The race has only begun.

Adagio Teas
Twitter: @AdagioRetail

Voice your opinion about this article on TeaChat!

May 21st '10 9:52 Adagio's first brick-and-mortar tea retail store will be at 27 W. Jefferson in Naperville, Illinois sometime in late August of 2010. Read more for a profile of the location. http://www.tearetailer.com/article_61.html Would love to hear your thoughts and answer any questions.	Charles Chicago, IL
May 21st '10 10:38 Congratulations team Adagio. I am sure that many of us will be watching this story unfold!	Chip Back in the TeaCave atop Mt. Fuji
May 21st '10 15:06 I'll be there. See you in late August.	Jim. Elk Grove Village, IL
May 21st '10 16:11 That's fantastic; congratulations! Now, you should concentrate on opening up a store in Puerto Rico.	bells12
May 21st '10 18:16 Congrats! Can't wait to hear more about it... and start planning a trip to Illinois...	LauraW SC
May 22nd '10 7:28 I've had a few private messages regarding employment at this new store. If you're interested, please feel free to send your resume to me at charles@adagio.com. I'll be hiring everything from Cashiers to Store Managers.	Charles Chicago, IL
May 22nd '10 12:02 Very exciting! Congratulations!!	Victoria Southern CA
May 22nd '10 22:47 Can't wait I will be there with bells on. Congratulations!	RachelC Chicago
May 25th '10 19:11 How exciting, I'll have to work in an Illinois pitstop on my next holiday. Congratulations!	AmberSweet New Zealand
May 26th '10 21:28 Thats awesomeness in the making.	AndyJCL Seattle, WA
May 26th '10 21:32 Hmmm I used to live up near there when I was a kid, now soon I will have yet another reason to revisit it! Quite a trip considering I'm way down south now, but I'll take any excuse to travel	Amaikokonut
May 27th '10 1:56 Hey Charles,Is there some place can set and enjoy your tea in your new tea store ? Like Starbucks?	Pisces
May 27th '10 8:38 Pisces, we will sell drinks to-go, and plan to allow free on-site brewing and sampling of any tea in the collection. We are not, however, planning to include a seating area for a variety of reasons detailed at http://www.tearetailer.com/article_19.html. Hope to see you.	Charles Chicago, IL
Jun 7th '10 8:26 The best of luck to you. Just my luck moving from Chicago. My new home would probably be one of the last towns considered for a Tea Shop, even though it is home to the State's University, Columbia, SC. Move over Starbucks.	iBob SC, USA
Jun 9th '10 23:15 Hey, I'm just up the road in Greenville - we've got a couple teashops around here, should you feel like driving up this way!	LauraW SC
Jun 20th '10 19:08 I will definitely stop in next time I travel to Illinois. I don't know when that will be, but now I have a reason!	s(tea)ven San Diego
Jun 25th '10 16:07 may you grow fast and prosper! Teavannas just don't cut it, I really would like a chain store that has some actual variety. Curious about your hot water setup Charles? Would you be using zoji's like teavanna ? Also congrats on the maestro collection, what a step in the right direction.	teaisme
Jun 25th '10 16:20 Zojirushis are great for at home or work but don't have the capacity for a high volume tea shop. We'll use proper water boilers like http://www.bunnomatic.com/pages/windows/H5EDVPC.html. These can be set to precise temperatures (we'll have one for green and one for black teas) and are capable of dispensing more than 20 gallons of boiling water per hour. Not necessary most of the time, but I want to be able to do tastings and cuppings an have water "on demand" and at the right temperature! Thanks for the kind words. We're excited about the changes. All 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of Shincha sold in under two weeks so it appears the customers are interested in following us up-market.	Charles Chicago, IL
Jul 8th '10 23:09 How is this coming along? Any photos?	Chip Back in the TeaCave atop Mt. Fuji
Jul 8th '10 23:13 We have finished the architectural plans and will be submitting them for permits on Tuesday. Target open date is September 1, and construction will probably not begin until the last week of July or first of August.	Charles Chicago, IL
Jul 8th '10 23:20 Thanks for the update. Hope to see some of the plans when you deem it appropriate.	Chip Back in the TeaCave atop Mt. Fuji
Jul 13th '10 2:59 I love the concept of the retail store and can't wait to visit it once it opens. The one thing you must have is knowledgeable staff members. There is nothing worse than walking into a store, asking for something specific and having the clerk try to sell you the most expensive item in their store: especially when it is not at all what you asked for. (case and point- I walked into a tea retailer and asked for a recommendation; I wanted a floral and delicate jasmine tea and they had 3 different varieties of jasmine tea. However, the vendor then tried to convince me to buy white silver needle! needless to say, I walked away empty handed.) So please, when hiring for positions, please choose people like your representatives at the International Housewares Show in Chicago. What customers want (contrary to what they may say they want) is perceived quality. There are plenty of less than stellar coffee shop chains (which I will not name) that serve mediocre coffee at best. However, people perceive them as being great- so they will pay more and stand in line for their perceived quality. I think the way your concept is structured will help get the point across that adagio is a fine-tea provider that focuses on quality tea and not a local hang-out that happens to sell tea.	Mei
Aug 5th '10 11:52 Would love to hear your thoughts and answer any questions. This is outstanding news! I live in NW Indiana and think this is desperately needed around here. It's especially good that it's a reputable name like Adagio.	Love4TheLeaf

add to conversation