BizBeat: Renee's Tea & Treasures offers relaxing escape

Julie Smith/News Tribune
Deanne Strope poses inside Renee's Teas & Treasures on E. High Street Wednesday. Strope opened the shop a few years ago, shortly before the May 2019 tornado which repairs were then followed by the pandemic.
Julie Smith/News Tribune Deanne Strope poses inside Renee's Teas & Treasures on E. High Street Wednesday. Strope opened the shop a few years ago, shortly before the May 2019 tornado which repairs were then followed by the pandemic.

Renee's Tea & Treasures is not exactly a new spot in Jefferson City.

The shop at 426 E. High St. has been open for a couple of years, but plenty of locals seem to stumble on it for the first time each week, said shop owner Deanne Strope, who recalled someone coming in recently who worked across the street and had never noticed the tearoom and gift shop nearby.

The business really began with a partnership between Strope and a friend at the Lake of the Ozarks. The pair put their heads together, she said, and came up with the gift shop and tearoom concept. In 2017, they bought the house on East High Street and spent the next year working to get it ready.

"We built this from the ground up," she said while sitting in one of the four dining rooms available in her shop.

While the business opened with a soft opening in fall 2018, Strope said she had planned a grand opening for late spring 2019, but those plans were upended quickly on May 22, 2019, when an EF-3 tornado struck the heart of Jefferson City. Strope said her business was spared significant damage - even all the items inside were in one piece. But the wind ripped half of the siding off the exterior, half of the shutters and did significant roof damage. And though the interior was largely spared, everything inside was covered in a fine layer of dust, she said.

"We were very, very lucky," she said.

After going through insurance and getting everything repaired, Strope said she reopened the shop that December and once again began to plan for a grand opening, to take place in early 2020. Unfortunately, that was around the same time as people around the world started hearing about COVID-19. Yet again, plans were canceled as the state shut down and non-essential businesses closed.

Strope said she closed her business down for two months, reopening in late spring 2020 to what started as very slow business. But gradually, as things began to reopen and normalize, business began to ramp up as well.

But where did the idea of a tearoom come from anyway?

"I do not drink coffee; I drink tea," Strope said.

After a friend brought her to a tearoom outside of Jefferson City, Strope said she fell in love with the experience.

The afternoon tea service is influenced by the English tradition and is meant to offer the community a relaxing break. Each service comes with a choice of luxury, custom-blended, loose leaf tea and a meal made up of an assortment of fresh, homemade savories, sweets and scones. The menu itself changes daily.

As the brochure for Renee's states, "Afternoon tea is about the experience, the celebration of self-care, and the cultivation of lasting friendship."

Each of the four rooms available for tea have a distinct identity, with one being available only by special request - the lavender room, which is specifically outfitted for young girls to enjoy tea with their favorite dolls and even comes with some dress-up supplies.

"I did not realize how badly Jeff City needed this," Strope said of her business. "We've already outgrown the house."

As for the name itself, it comes back to Strope and her connection with her own daughter and her stepdaughter, all three of whom share the middle name Renee.

Reservations are a must to enjoy a tea service - Strope said they're booked weeks in advance, and she tries to make sure each group is afforded as much privacy as possible.

"This is about the experience but also about the intimacy of your tea, your group, of being able to socialize again," she said. "Put away your phones and come and talk."

But she encourages people to stop in and check out the unique gift shop, which includes a wide variety of tea accessories, while exploring what is offered in a full tea service.

Renee's Tea & Treasures is open 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Reservations can be made by calling 573-634-3317. After two failed attempts at holding a grand opening, Strope has put away that idea and is instead hosting an open house from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. June 5, and she encourages anyone to stop by and see what Renee's Tea & Treasures has to offer.

 

Know of any business happenings around Jefferson City? Let us know at bizbeat@ newstribune.com.