New Glenwood Tearoom owners keep charm of business

With a few subtle updates, the Glenwood Village and Tearoom is back in business with new owners Jarred and Kera Hamilton. The Hamiltons, who took over Jan. 1, are two Shreveport natives vowing to keep Glenwood’s charm and feel the same. Previous owner Sharon McCullar retired from the business last year but is assisting with the transition until the end of January.

“The business never closed,” Kera said.

“It’s got such a good clientele, and it’s almost like it has a following. Everyone is so true to the Glenwood Tearoom.”

Tea Time

Kera spent almost a month job shadowing McCullar to learn the business to make for an easy transition. “The customers are really the reason why we had to [buy the tearoom],” she said. Though the Hamiltons are first-time business owners, they agreed taking over a Shreveport landmark was a good fit for them.

Kera has more than 12 years of experience in the restaurant business, a degree in entrepreneurship, a master’s in business and a passion for tea.

“I love tea. I am not a coffee drinker,” she said. “Tea has always been my caffeine of choice and it seems pretty fitting now that I own a tearoom.”

For the Love of Tea

Kera’s love for the tearoom began as a teenager when her grandmother would take her to Glenwood for lunch.

“It was special for me because I came with my grandmother. To go out to eat with my grandmother was a big deal because that just wasn’t something that happened a lot,” Kera said. “I think we came here on my birthday. We came a couple of times on a couple of different occasions. There is just something about it here that feels so different and it was – definitely something that stuck in my mind.”

It was Kera that first brought Jarred to Glenwood to celebrate a wedding anniversary. Jarred admitted as a man, he was a little apprehensive about going to a tearoom.

“I was just so shocked because I didn’t expect this at all. I didn’t expect it to be so personable and cozy and warm and inviting,” he said. “I thought it was such a cool experience. I thought it was really fun and we talked about coming back multiple times and that is kind of what sparked this whole thing.”

In late November, Kera suggested a lunch date at the tearoom was long overdue. In making arrangements for a reservation she noticed the business was for sale.

“It’s kind of crazy because we were going to come eat here and we ended up buying it instead,” Jarred said.

Building a Legacy

Jarred’s background differs from Kera’s. He started off in the manufacturing industry and later changed careers to work for Yokem Toyota as the customer retention director. Though his day job at Yokem doesn’t involve tea, Jarred said in his role he learned he wanted to create a legacy for his family.

“We want to create this place of experience and more memories,” he said.

Changing the tablecloths, logo and minor building repairs were some of the necessary updates.

“If we don’t touch it at all people will still love it and appreciate it, but I felt like – we both feel like equally – that we can just shine up some key aspects,” Jarred said.

“I think the way we are going to do this is make it seem more informal and easier [to appeal to more generations.] We are trying to make it to where if you can’t commit the time, you are able to experience some of it and you can take some of it home to experience it at a later point – that is a big deal.”

But Jarred confirmed their goal is to keep the tearoom a place of escape.

“We are always going to do it at the highest level. We are always going to present it to you formally, but for people shouldn’t be hindrance to explore. We are going to make it fun and easy for people to try it and not feel pressure to be where they don’t belong.”

Jarred said they are mulling over ideas for the future.

“There is a part where the formalness is beautiful and is what we are going to do for our customers regardless. The informal-ness is where we allow people to take it to go,” Jarred said alluding to the future.

More to Come

The owners are accepting locallymade items to sell at the Glenwood and customers can also look forward to an open house event 2 to 4 p.m. Feb. 28 on the boutique side.

But aside from the retail shop, it’s the tea and scones that drive customers to the business.

Each day Glenwood serves a fruit tea, black tea and their signature blackberry, maple tea called Angel’s Dream Tea. All of the teas they serve, customers can buy to take home. Metropolitan Tea and West Indies tea are the two companies that provide their tea.

With a wide variety of tea already in the bag – literally, the couple decided to keep the scone recipes the same, enlisting the staff to maintain the level of perfection in each of their five varieties. To expand on the popularity, Glenwood will offer seasonal flavors – the current offering is the king cake scone, which has all the flavors of the traditional Mardi Gras dessert minus the baby.

Along with all of the recipes, menu and products Glenwood offers, all of the staff remains the same with the exception of the cook, who retired from the tearoom.

Their new cook is Jarred’s father, who has worked in restaurants for years.

Kera said Glenwood’s biggest addition now available is a catering menu and delivery to businesses in a 15 mile radius of the tearoom.

“We are trying to push our catering menu. We came out with an office side, like a boxed lunch idea. Get eight people together and order off this menu and we will deliver it,” Kera said. Scones are on the office catering menu.

And there may be hope for some of Glenwood’s locally-famous recipes that have been retired to re-emerge in the future.

–Lydia Earhart

LEARN MORE:

Glenwood’s hours remain the same: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (for the restaurant) and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday for business hours. The tearoom is located at 3310 Line Ave. Learn more at www. glenwoodvillagetearoom.com or call 868-3652. Go to their Facebook at facebook.com/ glenwoodtearoom.