Tag Archives: small business

By Jennifer Ross

The Genovese mob family once ruled the area, with organized crime and gambling.

Since the mid-1960’s, 208 Sullivan Street was associated with infamous mobsters, known for organizing illegal gambling, extortion and murder. Called the Triangle Social Club, the blacked-out front windows hid business dealings of the Genovese crime family, led by mafia boss Vincent “the Chin” Gigante. In March 2011, another family took over. Armed with a hammer, cleaners, teas and spices, the Greenberg family converted the store into Sullivan Tea & Spice Co. and rubbed out mafia history. However, some things remained the same. Like the Genovese crime family, when it came to business dealings, the Greenbergs kept it in the family, kept it local and kept it small.

In 2004, siblings Jenny and Mark Greenberg started their business venture together by opening Grounded, an organic coffee and teahouse located at 28 Jane Street in the West Village. Although coffee was their top seller, they noticed a trend in rising tea sales during the colder months. As the tea trend continued over the years, the Greenbergs decided to expand the coffee shop in a complimenting direction. “[Tea sales] peaked our interest in having a general retail store where you could buy loose tea leaves of the drinks we made at Grounded,” said Greenberg. “And, of course, spices go so well with tea.”

Customers frequent the teashop, looking for original tea blends served at Grounded, a West Village coffee house.

Greenberg wanted keep the two stores near each other and found the old mafia club location in Greenwich Village during the fall of 2010. Understanding the rich history and debris that lay inside, he had much renovation work in finish. To not completely erase the location’s mafia history, he left a few things original, such as the decorative tin ceiling, mosaic tile flooring and the Italian-landscape mural from 1965.

Due to the mobster history, Sullivan Tea & Spice Co.’s grand opening received a welcoming reception from local media and neighbors. The siblings had lucked out, given that not much start-up money was reserved for store promotion. Instead, their plan was to greet the neighborhood with mouth-watering aromas, such as Masala Chai,  Coconut Rooibos, Assam, Mauritius Vanilla, Ancient Jasmine Emperor, Ghost Pepper, Black Truffle Salt, Himalayan Salt and Saffron.  “We had no advertising budget to speak of,” said Greenberg. “The hope was people would like what they saw and tell their friends, the old fashion way.”

Specialty items can be found here for a unique gift.

In the short amount of time the teashop was open, its word-of-mouth reputation quickly grew.  What started out as curiosity from the older well-established neighbors, tourists and NYU students grew into solid sales from restaurateurs, bartenders, pastry chefs and creators of essential oils, purchasing unique ingredients to use in their creations. “I know a lot of perfumists that come in for our spices,” said Noah Rinsky, a store clerk and media blogger for both teashop and coffee house. “A lot of pastry chefs use our vanilla beans. There was this bartender from Dutch Restaurant that used to come in and buy large bags of only lavender and rose petals.” As local businesses became regulars, this created a family-type atmosphere in the store.

Striving to stay in business as a local specialty shop, the Greenbergs paid-it-forward by offering many one-of-a-kind gifts and local products. One such item they carry is a honey used in a latte at Grounded and sold bottled at the Sullivan Tea store. Unprocessed, the blueberry-flavored raw honey is made by beekeepers in southern New Jersey. “One of our best selling lattes is the Honey Bee Latte,” said Greenberg. “People love it and can now make it at home as well.”

Other specialty items the teashop offers are natural soaps and candles, herb and bonsai tree growing kits or naturally created rocks, cut and polished into serving plates. The method in product selection is as unique as the product itself. “What we like to do is bring in products that accentuate the tea company. The soaps and candles are made with teas leaves or with spices,” said Greenberg. “Our growing herb kits come in recycled wine bottles that were cut in half.”

Foods of NY Tours loves the attention to detail given by teashop owners, Jenny and Mark Greenberg.

The mindset of keeping it unique and local with quality products was a main factor the teashop has kept its popularity up; so much so that a local tour guide company, Foods of NY Tours, has incorporated the teashop into their Central Village/Soho Food and Culture Tour. “We regularly look for around for shops that do one particular food group very well, with love and attention to detail,” said Amy Bandolik, Director of Operations at Foods of NY Tours. “The store is very well received [by customers].”

Through all this continued growth and variety, the Greenberg family wishes to keep the teashop unchanged in one important way – its physical size. Not wanting to loose its essence of a small-store feeling and locally known reputation, Greenberg has no future plans to further expand the business. “I just can’t imagine opening multiple [teashop] locations because I think it loses the essence of what you started with,” said Greenberg. “Growing the Internet side of business; that’s where I’d rather see the growth.”