St. Louis Tea Room Closing; Everything Up for Sale Next Month

By Chad Garrison on Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 11:01 am

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Goodbye, Tea Room sundae. It was nice knowin' ya.

It's a perfect place for grandmas or great-grandmas, and plenty of the former (and at least one of the latter) were on hand Friday afternoon at the St. Louis Tea Room in Tower Grove Park South.

(The great-grandma being 97-year-old Elaine Murray Fouche enjoying scones, tea and chicken salad with great-grandson Steven Smith, proprietor of The Royale.)

Sadly, though, come Wednesday the grandmas -- and grandsons -- of south St. Louis will have to find a new place to take their tea. After a four-year run at its spot on Roger and Utah, the St. Louis Tea Room is closing for good June 30.

Proprietor Judy Rusch, tells Gut Check, the decision was not made easily. She's been in business with her daughters -- Becky Daake and Barbara Obermeyer -- for the past 14 years, operating a tea room in Kimmswick, Missouri, before moving the restaurant to St. Louis in 2006.

The St. Louis Tea Room at Roger and Utah.

Daake's husband recently had a stroke requiring her to spend more time at home tending to her family. "We decided that if all three of us can't do it, it was time to get out of the business," explains Rusch.

Annie Zaleski rhapsodized about the Tea Room here.

So, if you haven't been yet -- you've got Tuesday and Wednesday (they're closed today) to head on down for tea.

And if you're in the market for china, doilies and assorted bric-a-brac, make sure to check the Tea Room's website for the TBA date of their July sale. Everything -- including the building -- will be on the auction block.