NEWBURYPORT – Folks looking to get a high tea experience without booking months in advance or travelling into Boston will be excited to learn about a recently opened business, The Proper Shoppe.
“It’s been fantastic,” owner Michelle Yack said. “It’s been really great. We’ve had a lot of people come in and a lot of high tea reservations, which is really great.”
The Proper Shoppe, located at 38 Washington St., had been a dream of Yack’s for over 20 years. Opening its doors two weeks ago, the store not only offers high tea, but also grab-and-go café items like baked goods and coffee, as well as books, toys, and other small gifts.
“I think it’s just kind of morphed over time with different layers,” Yack said. “I always was thinking it would be a bookstore; I’ve had a history of going to high tea since I was a little kid, and I’ve always loved high tea. So at some point in the last 20 years, I partnered the high tea with the bookstore and the books have expanded a little bit to just art and gifts.”
Formerly home to Angry Donuts before it moved to Inn Street, 38 Washington St. is located off Merrimac Street along Route 1.
Greater Newburyport Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Nancy Caswell said she has loved seeing Yack’s vision come to life.
“It’s gorgeous,” Caswell said. “It’s a great space to do multiple things. You can pop in for a gift or a toy, a dog leash, a dog collar, so it’s a great space for something like that. It’s a high tea, which I think is just a fun way to take your child on a date or go out with your girlfriends.”
She said it is also a unique offering for the area.
“I personally feel like there isn’t anything else within the community that’s doing something that she’s doing,” Caswell said. “So it’s a great addition to our business landscape.”
Yack agreed, noting that the only other space in the community she could think of that does high tea is the Garrison Inn.
“The Garrison Inn does do a high tea and it’s amazing and it’s beautiful,” Yack said. “It just books out super, super far in advance. So it’s kind of nice that we are just another option for folks.”
A staff member at the Garrison Inn said that they offer high tea the second Sunday of each month by reservation only with some occasional dates added, and that they are already booked through July.
At The Proper Shoppe, high tea reservations last an hour and a half, offering three time slots on Wednesday and Thursday, and four time slots Friday through Sunday. The space offers two booth windows that can each seat four.
Yack spoke about what a high tea is, using The Proper Shoppe as an example.
“It’s a prix fixe meal,” Yack said. “It’s a little bit of an elevated or slightly fancier meal, and you come in and we serve you a selection of loose-leaf teas. We have probably about a dozen loose-leaf teas and each individual gets to pick their own loose-leaf tea and you get your own little teeny teapot.”
To go with the tea is a three-tiered tray. The first tier of the tray features tiny sandwiches, while the middle tier has scones, and the final tier has mini-deserts.
“Each item is a teeny little bite, but they are supposed to be like little art pieces,” Yack said. “The cucumber sandwich has the cucumber on top made into a rose. And it’s really just beautiful and artistic and it’s an experience.”
She noted that they are sure to cater to any allergy needs.
“We do full tea trays that are vegan; we do full tea trays that are gluten-free,” Yack said. “We are a completely peanut-free facility, but if you do have a tree nut allergy, we work around and make sure we can get you, you know, dairy-free, nut-free. We cater towards every allergy.”
To make a reservation or learn more, visit thepropershoppe.com
Matt Petry covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: mpetry@northofboston.com.