LUPICIA.com CLOSING - group order for people in the US?? No happy bags.
NOOOOOOO!!!!!
My alternate to Teavana!! Fuck.
Does anyone know the real reason why they are closing?
Maybe they are going to sell on Amazon?
So, do we know if the French online shop will remain? I only found out about it a few days ago, but wanted to wait for recovery from holiday expenses before ordering. But if they’re closing that too, I’ll make an order so I can finally try Lupicia before they sail off into the sunset. I know EU and Japan have just made a major trade deal that would seem to make conditions particularly favorable for Lupicia to continue selling there, so it seems odd to completely withdraw from that market at this time.
@lizwykys : It seems that Lupicia just doesn’t want to be “international” anymore, though I don’t know the reasons for this (Was it not profitable enough for them? Do they just not want to focus on foreign interests anymore? Who knows…) They are a Japanese company and the only “international” store they are leaving open is the one in Hawaii (I’d presume because of the business from Japanese tourists more than any American marketshare there, honestly, the Japanese tourist industry in Hawaii is huge). The US website is closing down not because they still have the Hawaiian store open (a US-located store) but because the stock for that website was located out of Hayward, California, and all their California locations are being shut down, so they are shutting down the US website and all US-online ordering. We know they are shutting down the Australian store and French store, and though I haven’t used either of those online shops, I’m assuming the stock from them for online ordering is coming from those locations for shipping. Therefore, I’m going to say that yes, their online shops will be shut down. They aren’t leaving any foreign “shipping locations/storefronts” open either, from what I can tell/see.
I sent an email to the Honolulu store a few days ago, asking if it would be possible to make an order from their location by phone. Today I got a response!
“Thank you for your inquiry.
At this time, we have not received any official word from the management regarding the closure of our online store.
However, should this occur, we are able to ship orders to the continental US from our store. Please be aware there will be shipping and handling fees associated with any orders. The handling fee is set at $3.95 and the shipping will be thru USPS and will depend on the quantity ordered.
In addition, some of the flavors available online may not be available in our store.
If there are any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.
Have a good day!”
So hooray, they are willing and able to ship from their store! I am so happy and thankful! ❤
So ‘online store’ means the US website isn’t closing? Or maybe only the people within the CA store that operate the website are allowed to know right now? hmm… maybe it was a marketing ploy for someone to pretend the website was closing? haha
I think it’s most likely that they haven’t notified the Honolulu store about the website closing yet, because it doesn’t really affect them much.
There is no Honolulu site – I specifically asked the rep about ordering from their store by phone.
Correct, the US online store was managed out of Hayward, CA. From my knowledge, all California locations are closing, so I believe the US website is closing since the “warehouse” associated with it is being closed down. I think this is why the Honolulu site hasn’t heard anything about this. At least two separate people had confirmation from staff in the San Jose shop that the US website was closing at the end of February, and my last e-mail I got from Lupicia was a little “shady” in that it said to “stock up now on California only blends!” all while being very Japanese in not ever mentioning that the California stores were all being shut down. * cough cough *
That said, great news that the Honolulu store is willing to work with us! How did you find their e-mail information, @Cameron B?
I went to the store list on the website (“Store Locations & Information” at the top of the page). There you can find the locations of every store, including phone number and email address.
You bring up a good point with the San Francisco blends… Maybe I should get two packets of Golden Honeydew…
That’s good news! Just got some teas for Christmas now I need to stock up on Melon Oolong and others!!
Aha. If the website shuts down, that info might be difficult to find. I’ll just stash that away now, just in case…
The cinnamon cookie puer is back in stock… Just in case some of you are waiting for that to return.
Do you think the website/store will slash their prices due to closing?
My friend was waiting to see if that would happen… they are being so close-lipped though, I’m not sure. A lot of their stock was showing out of stock already, but now I’m seeing a few things showing back in stock (I’m wondering if some of the stores that have already closed like the Plano, TX location have had their old stock moved to the Hayward warehouse, which would make sense?) Like the Cookie Pu-erh that was out of stock that tea-sipper wanted is now back in stock…
I see… Well if they have a FB page keep an eye out for stuff! If l go next week I’ll ask. But I highly doubt that they would know.
Well, apparently the San Jose, Torrance, and Costa Mesa stores are now having a 20% off sale on “selected items”, though the e-mail I received doesn’t state what those selected items are (it does seem to indicate all teaware/accessories are included). Hawaii/Online is not included in the sale, only the physical locations.
Aaaaaand now my cousin who’s living in Japan for a year is getting a list of teas to buy me next time he comes home.
Well, all the holiday teas have been removed from the seasonal page… and have been replaced by the California blends. :/
They have them in the Mottainai section. They only have teabags though. Better hurry if you want them!
Argh…and I cannot navigate the Japanese site. Maybe they will include an english portion or something in the future.
Based on a reply in the r/tea post:
“I know someone in Japan who works for Lupicia corporate (I helped give her feedback for their USA website). I panic-ordered a bunch of tea before I realized I could have just ask her about the closings. So I did.
She replied to me pretty fast, saying business in the US market was tough, and the brick and mortars there would be closing this month. BUT you can still order online and buy in person at the Kinokuniya in San Francisco. Hope this helps!" (u/rejectsuperstar)
However, the salespeople in the California stores are still saying that the online shop will be closing February 28, 2018. (Checked with them today). Maybe the Japanese company is still thinking about it?
That’s interesting that they’re keeping the stock at the Kinokuniya bookstore, I wonder if they’ll keep the San Francisco Originalitea blends there as well?
I would be so beyond happy if they don’t end up closing the US online store! Crossing my fingers!
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