The story
Teavana was started in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1997, with the opening of a teahouse at Phipps Plaza. Teavana was founded by Andrew T. Mack, and his wife, who invested their life savings into the business. Their idea was inspired by a road trip, noticing the gravitation of Americans towards fine wines and coffees in the United States.
In late 2012, Starbucks stated that it would pay $620 million in cash to buy the company. Three class-action lawsuits were commenced by shareholders of Teavana concerning the Starbucks buyout; these were settled on December 14, 2012 (subject to court approval). The acquisition of Teavana by Starbucks was formally closed on December 31, 2012. Teavana joined the Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP) in 2015. On July 27, 2017, Starbucks announced it would close all 379 Teavana stores by 2018, partly due to underperformance.
Simon Property Group, one of the largest U.S. mall operators, demanded Starbucks keep running the Teavana shops located in its malls, arguing in part that their closing would reduce traffic to surrounding stores and in December 2017 a judge ruled in Simon's favor. On September 15, 2017, Cadillac Fairview sued Starbucks over Teavana closures in Canada.
However, on January 18, 2018, Simon and Starbucks reached an agreement that would close the remaining 77 Teavana stores in Simon malls, ending the tea shop's existence as independent storefronts after nearly 21 years in business.
From Wikipedia’s article on Teavana, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4
