Historic downtown Herndon's newest and much-awaited business opened its doors to an admiring crowd, Saturday, Dec. 15. Elden Street Tea Shop, owned by Rachel Eisenfeld, celebrated its Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting with all-day events.

Katie Tubb of Annandale was one of the shop's first customers. "We've really been looking forward to this," Tubb said as she sipped her cup of tea in the main dining room. "It's tea-rrific," exclaimed Rick Morgan, fellow Herndon business owner. "It's fabulous," replied Cathy Smith of Herndon when asked what she thought of the tea shop. “Long awaited."

In an earlier interview, Eisenfeld said she had initially planned for the shop to be located on Elden Street. As the shop’s build experienced delays, a stand-alone historical structure on Pine Street became available, and she jumped on it immediately. Not wanting to change the name of the business though, she decided to keep it.

"This is exactly the kind of business we are trying to attract in the historic area," said Lisa C. Merkel, Mayor of Herndon before the ribbon cutting. "Only in Herndon would we have the Elden Street Tea Shop, on Pine Street,"

Addressing the crowd, Eisenfeld said, "We did it... I could not have done it without the help of... the huge community that follows us everywhere." Even though the business did not have its own brick and mortar building, Eisenfeld had spent the last couple years out in the community offering samples of over 60 varieties of specialty, herbal, organic, English, green and loose teas at local events. She donated gallons and gallons of tea to nonprofit organizations and eventually sold limited selections on Saturdays out of a pop-up shop at the local arts center operated by Arts Herndon.

Visitors to the shop appeared impressed with its spacious and multiple rooms. In a tour, Eisenfeld showed off the formal tearoom, rentable for gatherings, meetings and events, the board game room with a couch and private seating areas and the main gathering room with multiple tables. Original art, for sale by local artists, adorned the walls. In the selection room, shelves held airtight, vacuum-sealed containers of tea leaves to keep them at their peak of freshness.

"The Chamber helped Rachel and friends open Herndon’s newest downtown place to ‘see and be seen.’ After operating as a ‘pop up’ business in ArtSpace for almost a year, the Elden Street Tea Shop is officially open at their permanent home on Pine Street, in the old Herndon Realty building. The renovated building is the perfect place to relax with a friend or have a business meeting with a cup of tea! If you don’t know tea, let the helpful staff guide your selection," said Michael L. O’Reilly, member of the Herndon Dulles Chamber of Commerce, part of the Dulles Chamber of Commerce.

Members of the Herndon Town Council and Dulles Chamber of Commerce, Town of Herndon staff, family, friends and patrons attended the event. The shop is located at 714 Pine Street, Herndon. 571-418-1863.