About a year after opening, a beloved spot for Charlotte tea lovers to unwind and unplug over a cup of herbal tea and sweets is closing for good.
The Pauline Tea Bar & Apothecary’s newest lounge, nestled in a cozy yellow home in the Beatties Ford Road corridor, is shutting down at the end of February.
The tea lounge, named after owner Sherry Waters’ grandmother , originally opened its first location in 2019 before expanding to a second spot as part of the Historic West End Partners’ “Thrive” revitalization. But because of rising rent costs and low traffic, she said she had to make the “astute business decision to walk away.”
As first reported by Q City Metro , the Historic West End Partners — who Waters operates her tea bar under — is not renewing the lease. With the cost being “astronomically more” than what she’s currently paying, she said even keeping the space and leasing herself would just not be sustainable for her small business.
“I have an affinity for seeing that community thrive … My thought was that I was gonna be able to bring a successful business venture like the tea bar over there and that the community would be ready for it,” she told CharlotteFive…