A chain that sells a BILLION cups of tea a year just opened its only BC shop in a Richmond strip mall Chinese locals call Diabetes Plaza.
TeaByDo soft opened on August 25 at 1126-8328 Capstan Way, in Union Square, the Richmond strip beside Capstan Station.
Its buy-one-get-one-free grand opening runs August 28 to 30, which is a three day window rather than a soft launch perk that lingers.
The numbers behind the shop are the part that makes the strip mall setting funny.
TeaByDo (also known as ChaPanda) runs more than 8,700 stores worldwide, sells over a billion cups of tea a year, and trades as Cha Panda in a lot of its markets.
This is its first shop in British Columbia and its third in Canada, after two Toronto area shops, the first of which opened in February.
Union Square already has more tea and dessert counters per square foot than anywhere else in the city, which is how it earned the nickname.
Here is what surprised me.
The line was long but it was not a wait, and the order board was cycling through numbers in the 350s while I stood there.
That is a lot of drinks out the window in an opening week with an all new crew, and it says the operations are dialled in.
We ordered the mango pomelo sago and the kyoho grape jasmine tea smoothie.
The grape one was the better drink by a wide margin, tart and cold with jelly that gave the straw something to catch on.
The mango pomelo sago was only decent, and that is the strange part, because the window display claims it moves 92 million cups a year as the brand’s best seller.
But with the BOGO deal going on, it is worth for you to give it a try yourself and compare with other shops offering a similar drink.
The opening is running with Fantuan, and everyone in the line got a branded paper fan.
Every drink also comes with a scratch card, and the top prize is a tote bag.
We got the top prize, and the tote is ACTUALLY good quality, which is not a sentence I get to write about opening day merch.
Post about it on social and they hand you a limited edition Vancouver fridge magnet on top of that.
Whether any of it sticks is the open question, because Union Square churns tenants faster than almost any plaza in Richmond.
A billion cups a year buys you a supply chain, not a lease renewal.
TeaByDo joins other recently opened Richmond spots including Dimsum Caddy, DBB Cake, and Datang Bistro.
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Address: 1126-8328 Capstan Way, Richmond, BC (Union Square Shopping Centre, near Capstan Station)
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