Unbelievable
I've just read, that as of Monday, my favorite tea shop has gone belly up. T on Fairfax has apparently shut its doors for good. I loved this place, lived there, ate plenty drank the tea and really enjoyed it. I'm so sad. Has anyone else tried this place? Miss it?
Wide Eyed Raven
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Panera Bakery also offers free wi-fi, but they have a way to get the freeloaders out: they shut off the internet at busy times, not being obvious, but you just lose connectivity. The web surfing / coffee purchase only set then packs up their stuff and goes home, giving the lunch crowd places to sit.
I was at a Lee's Sandwich location near Anaheim - big place - and they gave you 5 minutes of web access with each $1 you spent. The access code was on your receipt. Kind of clever, but I'm sure not cheap to implement.
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re: stuartontour
PseudoNerd
Jan 14, 2007 07:19 AM
T was planning on doing something similar-- that is, restricting wi-fi access and confining internet usage to the actual ports during busier hours-- when they first opened. I guess they never ended up implementing such plans and let people camp out for hours?
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Well, let me say that I was one of those with a mac, but i spent plenty there, every day. And I never took up more than a table if there wasn't room. I was very happy there, never made phone calls inside, liked the music. I feel like it has to be something bizarre and unexpected, not just slow sales or they would have done it in a more predictable fashion. Someone speculated (without knowledge) that a backer may have pulled out.
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Are you serious?! Man I live a block away and we went there all the time. You know, I will say this much: Every time I went in there with my girlfriend, we ordered food, tea, sometimes dessert, always spent accordingly to a lunch out, and I couldn't help but notice how many people just got a cup of tea and sat and stared in front of their stupid Macs and took a table for 2 hours. One of the last times we went we had to wait for a table after orderering 40 bucks worth of merch, and then realizing half the tables were occupied by hipster producers-in-training in their sweats zombied out in front of their Macs with a small pot of oversteeped, untouched tea sitting in front of them, flies gathering around their heads.
What a drag. They were open late too.
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re: fooddude37
westsidegal
Jan 13, 2007 05:59 PM
this is why, when a member the computer-toting set asks me for recommendations for places that will provide them with what is essentially office space for the price of a cup of coffee/tea , i NEVER tell them about anyplace that i really like.
so often, they simply drag the place into business failure.
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PseudoNerd
Jan 13, 2007 01:42 AM
That's a shame...
They put a ton of money into it too. Maybe that was the problem? Organic and seasonal foods, staffing (having at least two people in the front, two in the kitchen, DJs on weekends), rent, etc. get very expensive.
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yeah, i was a big fan too, and am sad to see it go. it seemed like a great place to add to fairfax's subtle revitalization -- with a great bookstore across the street, it was a spot that really spoke to me. i guess you can only make so much profit on people buying a 3-dollar cup of tea, then sitting for hours.. bummer.
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re: tannazie
I must say that I spent a good deal of money in there and it always seemed to be serving tea to someone. I suspect a financier backed out or the lease suddenly changed. I can't imagine that a business plan would invest that much in design, set up, etc. and not be able to sustain the opening of a place for a few months. Something weird must have happened.
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SauceSupreme
Jan 11, 2007 08:12 AM
I did like the place, but the parking situation makes it difficult for any business on Fairfax to stay open.
T on Fairfax needed to stay open much later to help divert traffic away from Canters and Damiano's.
The food quality was decent enough and free WiFi is amazing, but ultimately the parking and the hours killed it.
I think if T on Fairfax were one block south such that people could stroll in while visiting Farmer's Market, it would be a completely different story.
