A tea retail / wholesale shop opened in Orenburg in 2013.
Natalia and I bought an existing shop — a small “Tea Shop” that was barely breaking even. We split roles: Natalia took sales and purchasing; I handled the technical side — the website and advertising.
We refreshed the assortment and rebuilt the positioning: instead of just “selling tea,” we sold a gift and an emotion. Gift sets, corporate orders, and occasion-specific packaging followed.
We tried a second store in another part of the city — it lasted about a year and closed: the location was wrong for that format, but it was still a lesson. The main shop, by contrast, did well enough that we moved it into a space more than twice as large.
Founded
2013
My role
Co-owner (with my wife Natalia)
Status
Past — Russia
What I learned
Retail margins and pricing, working with suppliers, judging a location when opening a store, scaling and relocating a shop, and everyday retail discipline.
