Jenny Kincaid Boone covers retail and real estate.

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@roanoke.com
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Jenny Kincaid Boone

Retail Roundup columns

• Readers, thanks for your support
• Bastians Bar-B-Q to reopen
• Woolworth's space is being renovated in downtown Roanoke

The Storefront blog

• More from Jenny's blog

Tea drinkers, there's a new local option for purchasing your favorite flavors.

Botetourt County entrepreneur Jules Sowder launched an online tea shop this month out of her home.

At her new Web site, www.indulgetea.com, you'll find at least 35 different flavors of loose leaf tea, such as green, black, chai and herbal varieties. The site also sells decaffeinated teas and tea ware and accessories.

Sowder isn't new to the world of tea drinking. In 2002, Sowder, an independent marketing adviser, created a Web site with research, articles and health information about tea and its benefits. Over time, she noticed that traffic to the site, www.learn-about-tea.com, was growing. As interest and traffic continued to rise, she decided to expand into the retail realm.

A daily tea drinker herself, Sowder would not reveal how much money she has invested in her online business, though she described her investment as "moderate." The tea is shipped directly from the importer to customers. Derivatives of black and green teas tend to be the most popular flavors, she said.

Sowder plans to add new tea flavors to her Web site, and in the future she would like to sell Indulge Tea in specialty stores. She's also considering redesigning the Indulge Tea site.

Currently, www.indulgetea.com is merged with Sowder's Learn-About-Tea site, combining tea information with sales.

Outdoor living showroom

Home renovations typically ramp up during the warmer months, and a Roanoke construction supply company wants to win some of the business.

A new outdoor living showroom for models of outdoor kitchens, fireplaces and stone walls opened this month as part of the Boxley Block Brick and Hardscape Center on Blue Ridge Drive in Roanoke. The center sells brick, stone and hardscape materials for many kinds of home renovation jobs, from constructing outdoor kitchens to building fireplaces, stone walls or brick pavers. The new showroom gives customers a sneak peak at how some of these jobs can turn out.

The 4,000-square-foot showroom completes the entire 15,000-square-foot Boxley facility, which opened last fall.

Salon has new name

The former Good Looks Salon in the Westlake area of Smith Mountain Lake has a new owner and a new name. The Willard Cos., an umbrella company involved in real estate, building and development, has taken over the salon and beauty care business, renaming it Westlake Salon & Spa. It's located at the Westlake Towne Center in Wirtz, and the space is being renovated for posh amenities, eight styling stations, a nail and pedicure center and a relaxation area.

Westlake Salon & Spa offers a variety of services, including facials, skin care, body treatments, massage and hair waxing.

News from the Storefront blog at blogs.roanoke.com/rtblogs/storefront/

n Xtremes Comics, Games, Toys and Puzzles will close its Tanglewood Mall store this month.

n This year's Memorial Day weekend travel is expected to increase.

n New businesses are open at Keagy Village, including Scottrade, an online investment brokerage.