Happy New Year, 2012 (although it’s not the new year yet for some of us). It’s a good time to reflect back on the year behind us and set some goals for the next year. In 2011, we made some big changes. We enjoyed our tea shop in a little trailer outside of Republic, where we were able to host a tea cup exchange, sweetheart’s tea and meet new customers. We then had an opportunity to move our store downtown Republic in June. Co-locating with the Chamber of Commerce & Visitor’s Bureau, we saw the numbers of people who visited our store increase exponentially. We also had more space and a more updated environment as a backdrop for our displays of teas and vintage China. We expanded our inventory to include Harney & Sons teas which have proven to be very popular, and the English Tea Store blends-lately we’ve added Seattle Market Spice teas and Numi flowering teas and glass teapots. We were able to host different events such as a jewelry show by Diane’s Designs, and a spa night with Caphiera products. The tea store facility became licensed as a processing plant and we are now able to make custom blends right on site. The Friday Market which runs May-Sept is held in the parking lot just outside our store-we offered iced tea from our blends, almost every week. Kate’s spent time developing her gift basket making technique and can now offering more custom and unique gift baskets with varying themes: Christmas, children’s tea set, two for two, and more. We have our teas on sale at Java Joy’s in Republic, and complimentary tea available in the lobby of the Northern Inn in Republic. A special custom blends available at the Borderlands Trader in Republic, which is also now our neighboring store. We hosted one mother-daughter tea for 13 people this year and hope to host more private tea parties in the year ahead. So now that it’s National Hot Tea Month, what do we have in store for you? We are introducing our loyalty card program-buy 10 packages of tea and your next package is free! The cards available now in the store. We also have gift certificates on sale. We are taking our teas to the neighboring town of Colville-where they will be on sale at ‘the Loft’ downtown Colville, a new store featuring local products. We are introducing one new blend-Lady Lavendar-a lady grey tea with lavendar flowers-and re-introducing the Lavendar Rooibos. The teas partner nicely with the lavendar sugar that will be introduced in the Borderlands Trader. All Earl/Lady Grey teas are $1.00 off in January. jan 28th is the ‘festival of teas,’ when all teas are $1.00 off and information about the various types of tea will be available. We are hosting a tea tasting on Jan 29th at 1pm. For $5.00 per person, sample five cups of tea and learn about the different types: herbal, white, green,oolong and black teas. Info and quotes about tea will be posted frequently on our Facebook page this month. If you’ve made resolutions to improve your health, learn about how tea can help you do that-plus just slow down, put the kettle on and have a chat with a friend. These things will also improve your health. Cheers!