"2020 was going to be the year for us" "We planted so many seeds. Like you said, we had four stores opening — or opened — and we were in the process of opening two more. And so we were really on the up and up and it was a really fast-going train and then we just kind of came to a complete halt," said Allison DeVane, owner and founder of Teaspressa, a Phoenix-based tea company that sells teas, flavored sugar cubes, and flavored elixirs. Like many businesses, DeVane had to make some tough decisions throughout the pandemic in order to keep her business afloat, including closing all four of her tea cafes and shifting the focus back to online sales and wholesale.