COVID-19 Info

COVID-19 Guide for In-Store Shopping

We appreciate your support very much & have been working hard to serve your needs to the best of our ability during these challenging times.

Our staff have received extensive training in all COVID-19 related protocols to ensure a safe environment for everyone.

We understand that this is a stressful time & we are doing as much as we can to offer you an enjoyable in-store experience, along with additional services such as Store Pickup.

We ask for your co-operation, patience & kindness towards our staff members, especially when & if they ask you to observe provincial health guidelines and our company policies. It is not necessarily an easy or comfortable feeling for them to enforce these guidelines, but we are required to do so & it is in the best interests of everyone in the community—including you, whether you agree with them or not.

• DO NOT ENTER if you are sick or have any of the following symptoms: nasal congestion, sniffles, fever, chills, new or worsening cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, new muscle aches, headache, a loss of taste &/or smell, fatigue & lethargy. For everyone’s safety, even when symptoms are mild or you just feel “off”, please stay home. This also applies to anyone who has been told to self-isolate.
• Place your order online if you’re not feeling well. We’ll ship it to you, or request Store Pickup & send a friend or neighbour to pick it up for you & deliver to your front porch. Same day & next day Store Pickup is available.
• Masks are required. No mask = no entry. Forgot your mask? Buy a mask from us for only $3, or exit the store & shop online via your smart phone. Place your order online & select Store Pickup. We’ll contact you when it’s ready. How quickly we can put your order together depends on how busy it is with other customers inside the shop. Sometimes we can get it ready quickly while you wait outside, other times you may need to come back later that day or the next day to pick up.
• A staff member will sanitize your hands upon entry with HAVEN, our house-made aromatherapy hand sanitizer.
• Maintain a distance of at least 6 feet (2 metres) from staff & other customers.
• Cover coughs & sneezes, & avoid touching your face.
• There are occupancy limits on the number of people who can be in the shop & also in certain areas of the store. Staff will direct you to ensure these guidelines are met. They may need to move you to a different zone of the shop if a particular area has become congested, or we may need to close the door for a while to limit entries while we wait for other clients to exit.
• Our shop is equipped with plexiglass dividers in areas where you are not 6 feet away from staff. Stand behind (& not to the side) of the dividers when we sanitize your hands, when ordering tea & at checkout.
• Our AROMATHERAPY DIFFUSERS are used throughout the store to assist air purification & create a more relaxing environment. Our COLD & FLU NINJA essential oil diffuser blend is made of pure essential oils, which have been used in hospitals in Europe for air purification & to aid respiratory health. The essential oils have anti-viral & calming properties—their efficacy has not been tested against COVID-19, but every bit may help & we’re committed to doing as much as we can to make the in-store experience as safe & pleasant as possible. We also take measures to increase the circulation of fresh air.
• Use debit & credit cards for payment, preferably with tap. Our PIN pad is disinfected by the staff member at the cash after each transaction.
• We sanitize high-touch surfaces throughout the day, but we would appreciate it if you try to avoid handling objects & touching surfaces within the store to minimize the risk of contamination.
• If possible, have one person from your household come into the shop. If you need to shop with children, Store Pickup is a great option. Place your order online & select Store Pickup.
• If you are shopping with young kids or toddlers, they must remain in strollers or carrying devices so that they are not a risk to staff or other clients.
• If you are shopping with kids who are old enough to walk around on their own, you are responsible for ensuring they are educated on & capable of following all our store guidelines. They are also required to wear masks. If this is not possible, then we recommend Store Pickup.
• All goods purchased at this time are considered a FINAL SALE. For health & safety reasons, we are not accepting returns or exchanges at this time. 
• While in the shop, you are required to follow all posted health & safety signs & any additional instructions or guidelines the staff request of you in order for safety to be maintained.
• If you are ignoring verbal or written safety guidelines, acting in a way that may pose a potential risk or harm to clients or staff, or behaving in a disruptive fashion we may ask you to leave the store.

We appreciate your co-operation in ensuring a safe & relaxing space for everyone to enjoy.

Services that are not currently available

• Self-serve for teas is not available at this time. A staff member will fill tea for you instead. Let them know which teas you’d like & in what sizes, & whether you’d like a new tin or a refill. Look for Tea Menus in-store or you can look up teas on your smart phone while you wait in line for tea filling.
• We are not refilling your used tins from home at this time, however we can scoop your tea into our brown bag refills instead. Once you are home, you can transfer the tea into your tins to preserve the tea’s freshness. You will still receive a refill discount.
• Our in-store spa at the Chinatown shop is currently closed. 
• Tea sampling & smelling of tea samples is unavailable.
• Teas to-go & kombucha on tap are unavailable.
• In-store Events, Tea Flights & Workshops are not currently available. We are working on some new online classes & events—be sure to sign up for our e-newsletter to be notified as soon as these are available. If you have a gift certificate for a tea flight or workshop that expires during this time, we will be happy to honour it when & if that becomes possible in the future, or to switch you to an online workshop when they become available.
• Washrooms are restricted to staff use only.
• We do not have any customer seating available.
• For fastest service when purchasing tea or for a touchless transaction, we recommend placing your order online & selecting Store Pickup. If you place your order before noon, we can usually have it ready for you the same day by noon (provided it’s a day we are open).
• If you are placing a larger order for tea (either many units of tea or 1500-cup sizes of tea) we recommend (& would appreciate it) if you could pre-order tea by placing your order online & selecting Store Pickup.
• We’re continuing to offer our reduced shipping rates for online shopping. Receive free shipping throughout Canada for orders of $50 & free shipping to the U.S. on orders over $100.