Today, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, the largest and oldest privately held specialty coffee and tea retailer in the country, begins brewing at its 1,000th store location worldwide in its home town of Los Angeles. Situated on the ground floor of Wilshire Courtyard office building, the 2,200 square foot store will serve the brand’s premium handcrafted beverages such as single-origin coffees, teas, and The Original Ice Blended drink featured for the summer.
To recognize the momentous occasion, a ribbon cutting event and celebration will take place on Thursday, June 25, beginning at 12:30 p.m. during The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Week, a week-long proclamation made by the Los Angeles City Council in 2013 during the brand’s 50th anniversary. During the open house event, customers are invited to come sample beverages, receive some giveaways, and enjoy the ambiance of this new flagship location. Additionally, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf locations throughout Southern California and Arizona will also be celebrating by offering their customers $2 small Ice Blended® drinks from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. that same day.
“As a brand and company, we are so proud to be opening our 1,000th location globally right here in our company’s birthplace, the city of Los Angeles,” says Jeff Schroeder, senior vice president of operations. ‘We look forward to our continued growth, taking The Coffee Bean experience to coffee and tea lovers all over the world.”
The Coffee Bean corporate offices relocated to the Wilshire Courtyard office building in the former Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) space at the beginning of June 2015. The redesigned office space will hold support center employees, and the offices will bookend this new flagship location.
“On behalf of the City of Los Angeles, I applaud The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on the milestone achievement of their 1,000th store location worldwide, appropriately located right here in L.A.,” says Los Angeles mayor, Eric Garcetti. “As Southern California’s iconic specialty coffee and tea retailer, the brand serves as a beacon of our city’s heritage and growth and I wish them continued success for years to come.”
Over the past 50-plus years, the company has grown to be an international icon. The Coffee Bean continues to focus on its global growth as at the end of this month it will surpass its 1,000th store mile mark opening in nearly 30 countries. In early 2014, three private equity firms—Advent International, Asian-based CDIB Capital, and Mirae Asset Private Equity—embarked in a majority investment in the company to join existing stakeholders, the Sassoon family. With these partners The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf continues to build across Southern California and expand into new markets throughout the world such as Japan and, most recently, Panama.
