This is what's moving into some of the abandoned DavidsTea locations in Toronto
A new chain of tea shops will soon be moving into some of the abandoned DavidsTea locations in Toronto.
Earlier this year, the company announced that it would be significantly reducing its store count after restructuring under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, a law which covers insolvent companies.
Now, Canadian entrepreneur Doug Putman is taking over three DavidsTea locations in the Toronto area — Yorkdale Mall, Square One, and Royal Bank Plaza — to open a new tea shop called T. Kettle.
T. Kettle will also be opening in eight other provinces across the country for a total of 45 Canadian locations, as well as locations in the U.S.
"When we heard that DavidsTea was going to close most of their locations, it sparked an idea in us that this might be a great time to get into the business," Putman told blogTO.
"At the end of the day, we felt it was a viable business and decided to move forward on it."
Putman said he tried to secure every shuttered DavidsTea location, and these were the three that ended up working out.
"Not every space could we come to a deal on," Putman explained.
This isn't the first time Putman has attempted to turn around a retail chain. Back in 2014, he purchased music store chain Sunrise Records and in 2017, opened locations in shuttered HMV stores.
"If an opportunity comes along, we'll look at it, see if it makes sense for us and if we can make it into a viable long-term business," Putman said.
"We did that with Sunrise and HMV and it worked out really well for us and we're obviously trying to replicate that with T. Kettle now."
According to Putman, T. Kettle will be focused on premium loose leaf tea with no added fillers.
"We want ours to be the best, highest quality tea out there," he said.
All T. Kettle locations are expected to open by the end of this week.
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