Everybody’s business

Tea’s on
Tea, it seems, is the next coffee. And Shelly Blanshei, owner of Bidwell Perk, has a new plan up her sleeve.

By September, she plans to open a tea bar and Asian café she has dubbed Teaz Me. It will be located in the Camellia Courtyard on Vallombrosa Avenue, former home to the Chico Heat offices. Blanshei, who has started a foodservice development group called Shelly’s Guest Services, Inc., expects that this shop will serve as the flagship to a whole chain of Teaz Me’s located in college and urban markets.

Blanshei believes high schoolers on up will see Teaz Me as a new “escape”-type hangout, open from mid-morning to 9 or 10 at night, bucking the “old-fashioned” image she said tea has suffered from over the years.

“Tea is the fastest-growing beverage category in the United States right now,” Blanshei said, mentioning a newly health-conscious public. “It’s like coffee was 10 or 15 years ago.”

Besides hot, cold and frozen teas and chai, light Asian snacks will be sold.

Rooming in at Enloe
News & Review intern Cord Nowell and I took a little field trip last week to the Enloe Conference Center. While I debated the journalistic ethics of noshing on free cookies and gourmet coffee, Nowell handled the interviews. His report follows.

Enloe Medical Center previewed three newly designed patient rooms even though its expansion project has yet to be approved by the city.

Last week, Enloe set up three mock rooms—private, semi-private and critical care—in its conference center. Enloe employees and physicians were asked to inspect them and give feedback to make sure the proposed rooms were well-designed for patient care. Between 600 and 700 staff members, some armed with tape measures, turned in surveys.

“We have received input ranging from adjusting the sink height to adding more electrical outlets and improving handicapped toilet access to name a few,” site project coordinator Carole Mickelson said.

Dr. Jeffery Lobosky commented that the rooms will benefit the patients because of the rooms’ larger size and ability to house the constantly advancing medical technology.

If the expansion is approved, the rooms should be ready by 2007.

Can’t fight city’s Wahl
Remember Chuck and Blair Herman, the lone Chico holdouts against changing their Mail Boxes Etc. franchise to a UPS Store? Well, they’ve sold out to Larry Wahl, the Chico City Councilman who owns the other UPS Stores in town.

The Hermans are enjoying semi-retirement in North Carolina, and the UPS conversion continues nationwide.

Trader no’s
Every year or so I take it upon myself to check up on Trader Joe’s. People keep telling me that this time, it’s for sure. They heard it from someone who knows someone.

Well, here’s the latest word from Pat St. John, the spokesperson of the Monrovia-based grocery store chain: “It’s still a rumor about Chico. We have a two-year plan and Chico is still not on that two-year plan. I’m sorry to disappoint your readers.”