Tower Grove Farmers’ Market vendor Chimera Teas to close its brick-and-mortar in November

Owner Brianna Velarde is unclear on the future of the business after the cafe closes

Chimera Teas will close its cafe located at 3149 Shenandoah Ave. in early November. In an email communication with Sauce, Chimera Teas owner Brianna Velarde confirmed that the business will close some time after Nov. 3. Velarde said that she picked that timeframe to give her staff time to find other jobs and so that the neighborhood can drop in for some final visits.

Although Chimera Teas saw quick success at the market and had a large repeat customer base, the brick-and-mortar wasn’t able to establish itself in a similar manner.

“Unfortunately, we never picked up enough business at the cafe to keep it open past this year's Tower Grove Farmers’ Market season,” Velarde shared in the email.

The business, which just had its grand opening celebration in January, moved into the space that formerly housed Kitchen House Coffee, and with the move, expanded its offerings to include coffee, pastries and small bites. The brick-and-mortar expansion was one of Velarde’s life aspirations and in a phone interview last year with Sauce, she explained, “I always wanted to start a tea shop. It was always a dream of mine.”

Since the plan had always been about using the farmers market growth to make the brick-and-mortar business a reality, Velarde shared that she is unclear what will happen with Chimera Teas after November. For now, she is taking some time to decide if she wants to do pop-up events or markets again at some point in the future.

“At the moment, we're aligning our cafe closure with the weekend of the last Tower Grove Farmers’ Market and don't currently plan to do the winter markets,” she said.