Westward Bound... to EXPO!

Feels like the night before Christmas - when all through the house, not a creature was stirring at The Tea Spot.

3 of our team of 7 are already in/on their way to Anaheim, CA for the largest Natural Food Show of the year, EXPO West.  EXPO's hosted by the Boulder media powerhouse, New Hope Media.  We'll be one of over 2000 exhibitors. From our town alone, about 40 companies are exhibiting - no small feat!  Our local paper ran an article, appropriately titled "Naturally Hopeful" in the biz section this week, stating (quite accurately, I might add) that this event is, for many companies, the largest annual marketing expenditure they'll choose to make.  So even from our 10x10 spot in the basement, we intend to wow many of the 53,000 anticipated "industry professional" passer-bys with our outstanding teas and innovative Steepware products, including some previews of exciting developments coming in 2010. Our newest development dovetails perfectly with the strong Going Green initiatives that New Hope has taken with CO2 emissions reductions initiatives at the show this year ;)

Our Natural Foods sets are growing, both in quality of products and number.  We're thrilled to be offering our teas in bulk to grocery shoppers in select stores like Whole Foods (Southglenn store set pictured at center) and Food Lion.  But the cornerstone of our brand and affinity for the natural and organic shopper comes from retailers like Lazy Acres in Santa Barbara, and Ellwood Thompson's (set pictured at the bottom) in Richmond Virginia.  This is our customer, and this year, we hope to be able to better represent our brand on their shelves, offer a wider variety of products in bulk, as well as new and innovative tea steeping tools for the consumer as well as foodservice.

The feeling of pending expectation has been building... now in our 5th year of exhibiting at the show, we're (thankfully!) at our most organized and well-mobilized, and looking forward to not only representing our own products and mission of fostering health and wellness through loose leaf tea, but taking in what others are doing in our industry. 

So please come by and visit us (and enjoy some tea!) at booth 5766 in Hall E - our hall opens at 9:30 AM - 30 minutes earlier than all the others (is this 'cus it's hard to get to, I wonder?!)

The Natural Products EXPO West show runs from March 12-14 at the Anaheim Convention Center. 

And I'll do my best to report here on our experience at the show :)