The story of the tea shop from Arkansas to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

​My story begins on a sweet little corner of the Hillcrest Historic District in Little Rock, Arkansas in February 2018. Since my college years, I have LOVED tea - preferring it over coffee due to a sensitive stomach and the lovely concept of taking tea in the afternoons. Before opening the tea shop in 2018, I pursued a career in digital marketing & advertising, where I was very successful but not completely fulfilled. 

After some significant life events in 2016 & 2017, I decided to take time off to figure out what I wanted to do with myself and who I wanted to be. During that time, my dad passed away. He was born and raised in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Our family lived here from 1989 to 2001, until my parents decided to move back to Arkansas to be closer to Mom's side of the family. 
​Dad managed his restaurants - a Bonanza franchise and then his own venture (later) in downtown Little Rock called "The Galley." Eventually, he became a successful food sales rep for Sysco. I remember many of my earliest years on the beach running the routes with him.

​He took me in and out of some of the most popular restaurants still around today and some that live on in the nostalgia of the Outer Banks. (RIP Seafare & The Wharf!)
My mom was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. A graduate of Hall High School. During the Outer Banks years, she ran her own business 'Solutions' that helped small businesses on the beach with advertising specialties - mugs, cups, koozies, t-shirts, etc. I can't tell you how much 80s/90s Outer Banks memorabilia we still have in both of our cupboards. She was also instrumental in fundraising for the Outer Banks YMCA.

​There is a VHS tape of me singing Whitney Houston & Mariah Carey's 'When You Believe' at age 13 or 14 at that groundbreaking out there somewhere. ​
When my dad died in 2017, I realized that life is very short. He was pretty young when he died. One of our last conversations in the hospital was about what I wanted to do with my life. We talked about my dream of the tea shop, and he asked me hard questions about why I was afraid to do it.

​With his words in mind and my mom's encouragement, I knew it was what I should be doing. I was coming to the end of my year off from the corporate rat race, and she asked me what was next. Mom has always given me unwavering support, advice & confidence. 
We had lunch in December of 2017, and she said, "Okay, Abbi, I want you to simply look around out there and see what commercial spaces are available. Let's start there and see what happens." So, I did. The same day, I saw what turned out to be my very first business location at 2622 Kavanaugh Blvd in Hillcrest. It was a craigslist post, and I called the number. Within two weeks, I had a signed lease. The building, at the time, was owned by the family behind Old Mill Bread & Bakery.
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​The space was nearly 100 years old, and figuring out a commercial kitchen in the space was tricky. So, they let me prep my food each morning in their commercial kitchen. I remember those years - bright and early 4 am/5 am starts with John at Old Mill. I'd make my sandwiches for the day with their yummy bread & have fresh brownies and scones filling up my car all the way to the tea shop where I'd get ready to open by 8 am.  ​
My Hillcrest Tea Shop was a dream all in itself. For three years, I thrived in that space. I grew faster than I could imagine. I crafted my own tea blends in my little kitchen & offered a safe place for quiet solace in the walls of that tea house. Mom was there all along the way. She helped me get the shop open and cover a day or two each week so that I could have some time off. Jessica came on Fridays when she had her own set of regulars who came just to see her.

I could go on and on about the countless special moments in Hillcrest.
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​You can read about many of them on my blog or scroll through them on Instagram. It was a magical place. 

Surviving COVID on the curb with the tea stand...

And then came the year of 2020. COVID hit and brought all its uncertainty and all its hardship. I remember closing the shop to dine in like so many other business owners. I remember telling my regulars, "Oh, it will just be a few weeks, and we'll be back to normal. I think I am going to set up a tea stand. You know, like a lemonade stand but with TEA!"

​I did just that, and people loved it. It was really wonderful for a while.

What started as a few weeks out on the curb with my happy little tea stand turned into several months. I remember the heat of that first summer - the summer of 2020. I bought an umbrella for myself around August of that year. I invented the now-famous Abbi's Tea Jugs that people have come to crave every summer.

​But I kept going with it. 
Things got pretty bad in Little Rock, Arkansas during COVID. Hillcrest sits just 2 blocks from every major hospital in the state. Many of my customers were nurses, doctors & teachers struggling through the ups and downs of the virus. We all shared together on that curb in Hillcrest. ​
​In the winter of 2020, the cold weather posed its own new challenges to life on the curb with the tea stand. Yes, I sat out there. I sold hot tea, my loose-leaf teas and even had holiday sales out on the curb.

At this point, the tea stand had become a little bit of an icon in the heart of the city. And, I was stubborn and determined to keep going as cases surged at was at the time the highest surge yet. The presidential election really caused people to take a turn on the COVID response. In the hot pot of Arkansas - attitudes and opinions began to divide our city - much like they did nationwide. 

Winter of 2021 is when I pinpoint my shift in the tea stands not being as fun for me anymore. I began seeing neighbors turn on each other & become unnecessarily competitive.
All of us were tired of what was turning out to be a much longer-lasting issue. I had one truck that would drive by every week and scream "Communist" at me as I sat at my tea stand. I began debating if I needed to have a security camera out front. I eventually installed one when in the Spring of 2021, I began having very targeted messages written on my sidewalk where little kids used to draw their sweet teapots and chalk art. 
​My body also started really letting me know that the tea stand was taking a toll. By this time, I had already experienced a bad case of Shingles that my dermatologist told me likely had to do with the sudden ongoing sun-exposure and stress from the tea stand. To my relief, in May of 2021, we had a huge fall in cases. Many of us who had closed our shops indoors eagerly opened back up. I even had two small tea parties that spring. It felt like things were finally getting back to normal - or at least a NEW normal. Mom and Jessi came back and worked, too. We were out of this, right?

NOPE! August of 2021 brought the Delta variant to Arkansas. Schools shut down, hospitals filled up, and I went back out to the curb during another HOT summer. I bought a 2nd & 3rd umbrella. I would be lying to you if I told you I was okay. I feel like 2021 was one of the darkest years of my life. 
But, my e-commerce business had taken off by this point. I was shipping all over the United States. People LOVED my online tea talks & new tea blend release watch-parties.

This new revenue stream gave me more flexibility for the tea stand, and I began driving my business to one or two days a week outside instead of every day.

It also helped me manage some of my anxiety and depression that had crept in during this time & kept me out of the seasonal weather elements. Let me tell y'all I can time a rain cloud pretty darn well now!

​My husband and I started making small trips back home - to the Outer Banks. Because I was operating the tea stand 2-3 times a week and e-commerce was booming, I was able to slip away for 3-4 days to restore myself.
Jordan also had his share of weight through the pandemic as a store manager at Walmart. We lived out here in the early parts of our marriage in 2011-2013. I was the marketing director at Kitty Hawk Kites during that time. We moved back to Arkansas in 2013 because we were hoping to start a family and wanted to be closer to his family and my mom's side of the family. Sadly, babies aren't a part of our story. But we weathered those losses, too. You can read about our love story here.

In the early fall of 2021, Jordan and I began seriously considering moving back to North Carolina. Our visits were very helpful and made us long for the water and a change of pace. We got our ducks and a row, and now we're here! ​

I closed the Hillcrest location in March of 2022 after starting my 5th year in business. We opended in Nags Head, North Carolina in May of 2022.
​We are located across the street from Jockey's Ridge upstairs in Jockey's Ridge Crossing on the south-end of the building. Full circle, 30 years later since a photo my dad took of me "dancing" on the castle buried beneath the dunes in March of 1992. Jordan opened Sudden Light Records in the tea shop, and I let go of tea parties and dine-in services to focus solely on my loose leaf tea blends that I make myself!

We are so excited to be a part of the OBX fabric again. We hope you'll come by and enjoy a cup of tea & some good music soon.

Proudly working alongside
​ Sudden Light Records - a nostalgic new & used music store.