The specialty tea retailer Teavana lost $146,000 in the second quarter, driven by the costs of becoming a public company and the acquisition of Canadian tea retailer Teaopia. In the same quarter a year ago, Teavana made $1.03 million.
In a conference call Tuesday, Teavana chairman and CEO Andrew Mack said the company still had work to do to digest its recent growth. Including the 46-store Teaopia acquisition, Teavana added 105 stores — a 59 percent increase — in the last year.
Those stores includes the company’s first street-level store, in Manhattan. Teavana, which has its stores in malls, said that customers can expect to see more non-mall locations in the future.
Teavana sales increased to $43.1 million, 38 percent over the same period from 2011, the company said.
Teavana also announced Tuesday that it had hired its first vice president of marketing. John Aylward is the former brand director of Gap Europe and has also worked for Sony and various advertising firms.
He will focus, in part, on creating brand awareness and instituting a customer loyalty program, the company said.
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