Tea Creations Leaving Northfield

Another Northfield business is heading out of town.

in downtown will close when its lease expires at the end of this year, owner Daniel Xiong said Wednesday. He expects to reopen his restaurant somewhere in the Twin Cities shortly thereafter.

“There are several locations we are looking at right now,” he said. “There has been no decision made.”

When asked why he plans to move his business, Xiong didn't mince words.

“I can’t say business in Northfield is good or bad,” he said. “What I know is we need to go somewhere with more volume, with more population. But this is a great place. We really hate to see a place like this go.”

While Northfield may not have the population numbers Xiong says is needed to support Tea Creations, he said his business has developed a loyal clientele in town, particularly college students.

“There will be a lot of students who will miss this place,” he said. “I think we are going to miss the customers as much as they miss us.”

Xiong, an Eagan resident, did not reveal potential relocation sites.

When it opened in June 2010, Tea Creations filled an eatery space that had been vacant since Bagel Bros. closed a number of years ago.

Tea Creations serves a variety of tea concoctions, including bubble tea, a tea mixture that also contains fruit or milk and tiny jelly-like balls. Also on the menu are slushies, smoothies, spring rolls and soups.

In addition to Xiong, Tea Creations has three part-time employees.

Among them is Lauren Dokken, who is approaching her first anniversary with the store. She said that as much as she has enjoyed working at Tea Creations, she will miss the tea even more.

“I really, really like drinking the tea,” she said. “It’s really good.”

It's just another move in downtown Northfield's musical storefronts.

Another business in the building that houses Tea Creations, , plans to move down the street to the former Tiny’s Hot Dogs space. A former neighbor of Tea Creations on Division Street, Digs, and moved to Minneapolis.

to make way for . is under new ownership. opened this year after longtime downtown business . opened in the past year, is planned for downtown and Northfield Patch was the first to report that a .

Ross Currier, executive director of the Northfield Downtown Development Corp., told Patch last month that downtown has seen a lot of ups and downs in the past decade, with 60-some businesses closing while 80-some businesses opened.

"We are fortunate that our historic, scenic and authentic downtown continues to attract entrepreneurs," he said. "I’m sure we’re all hoping that the economy will continue to steadily, if slowly improve.”