Tea & Sympathy Creates GoFundMe To Stave Off Closing

WEST VILLAGE, NY — A beloved West Village tea shop is in danger of closing its doors after holding on by the "skin of our teeth" for years.

The owner of Tea & Sympathy, its British grocery store and the neighboring fish and chip shop created a GoFundMe page on Wednesday in a last-ditch-effort to keep the Greenwich Avenue shops near W. 13th street open.

"I have been here for so long and the expenses have gone up so astronomically," owner Nicky Perry told Patch.

"It's happening to the whole neighborhood. I saw someone crying on a bench because the landlord wouldn't renew their lease and I said, 'That’s not going to happen to me I’ve put too much of my life into this place for it to disappear.'"

Perry aims to raise $100,000 through the campaign and as of Thursday morning patrons had donated more than $4,000 to the cozy nook specializing in English comfort food and afternoon tea that has become something of a hub for the city's British expat community.

Founded in 1990, the shop attracts customers from across the five boroughs and serves traditional British fare including crumpets with clotted cream and jam, bangers and mash, Shepherd’s Pie and Welsh Rarebit.

The shop also features a grocery called Carry On Tea & Sympathy with popular British biscuits, teas, tea-pots and more. The owners expanded in 1999 with fish and chip shop A Salt and Battery next door.

The tea shop is popular among the neighborhood's celebrity crowd and was featured in hit TV series "Sex and the City." It was also where English music icon David Bowie celebrated turning 60-years-old. But it is home to decades of fond memories from locals and anglophiles across the city.

"We are one of the last standing legacies of our area. We're part of the stitching that makes the West Village unique," Molly Carew, the manager for the trio of shops, told Patch. "To say goodbye to all of that would be really terrible."

In recent years, the shops have struggled to make ends meet with a whopping $28,000 in rent per a month, soaring property taxes and a slew of other costs.

Perry and her staff have cut costs wherever they can, including shrinking the number of waiters, switching to a brand of coffee that is slightly cheaper and trying different vendors for the paper products they purchase, but it's still not enough, said Carew.

"We've made a lot of changes, everything we can think of but the issue we really struggle with is the payments on the loans. The interest is unbelievable," said Carew.

"We are a small business, if we didn’t have these looming loans that we’ve accumulated over the years to keep up we'd be profitable."

Perry refuses to slash her staff's salaries, although last year was the first she was unable to offer a Christmas bonus, and fears Tea & Sympathy will join neighborhood institutions such as Mexican bar Tortilla Flats in closing its doors.

"We have stood by and watched all of the local businesses who made the West Village what it is today lose to landlords and buyouts and profit losses. We are trying so hard not to be added to that list," Perry wrote on the GoFundMe page.

Perry plans to use the funds toward their loan repayments, real estate taxes, paying their vendors and to help with the rent "which as landlords refinance the building increase yearly," she said.

The money would also go toward doing more in house deliveries — Grubhub and Seamless take a 12.5 percent bite out of each of their sales.

Carew has reached out to the New York State Department of Financial Services for advice and, if the Go Fund Me page reaches its goal, plans to sit down with the state to develop a game plan for how best to use the cash.

The landlord, Sky Management, did not immediately return a request for comment.

"I'm really angry about the rents, my landlord is great and has been sympathetic but they have bills too. It's not my landlords fault it's the culture," said Perry.

"I mean, what's going on with all these empty storefronts? We all have to pull together and make it work. The bloody mayor has got to do something about the real estate taxes."

As of Thursday morning, nearly two dozen loyal patrons shared messages of support and praise on the tea shop's GoFundMe page.

"We drive from Glen Rock, PA just to visit and eat there. We cannot lose the best fish and chips in the USA," wrote Andy and Amber Bramall.

Many recalled fond memories at the eateries and could not fathom the neighborhood without Tea and Sympathy.

"Friends help friends. You’ve treated my friends, family, coworkers and myself like part of your family for years," Keith Maresca wrote.

"We love you all. [Tea and Sympathy] is a staple in the Village. It should remain for years to come."

Photo courtesy of Tea & Sympathy