Village Tea Room to relocate

The Village Tea Room and Gift Shoppes will be relocating this summer from its current home on Robbins Road to a new location on Chatham Road.

Jennifer and Wayne Friday, owners of both the Village Tea Room and Fridayz Flowers, have purchased the building at 315 Chatham Road, which formerly was home to the J. Parkes boutique. The Fridays will be moving both of their businesses to the new location.

The Village Tea Room has been in its current location at 3301 Robbins Road for 12 years, but rising rent rates prompted the Fridays to begin looking for potential new space. Jennifer Friday said the new building’s location on Chatham made it a prime spot for their businesses.

“It’s right on the main street,” she said. “Where we are now, we’re kind of hidden a little bit. We’re hoping more people see us and come visit us.”

The 315 Chatham building also is home to a hair salon, a tattoo shop, a pet groomer and a pet boutique, all of whom will remain as tenants of the Fridays.

The Fridays closed on the purchase of the building in April and are now in the process of renovating the space that will be home to the tea room and gift shop. They hope to move in July.

Jennifer Friday started the flower shop in 2001 and added the tea room in 2016. She said the look and feel of the new location will be similar to the tea room’s current location, although it is about 1,000 square feet larger. She said the gift shop will have more of a “boutique style” in the new space, although with many of the same vendors as in the current location.

“The majority of our vendors are making the move with us,” she said.