![]() Tea wasn't just a habitual drink, but a vehicle for socializing, Liu's dad found. "After being away for nearly 20 years, he reconnected with them over tea." "He'd lost contact with everyone in his past because long-distance calls were very expensive, and letters were time-consuming and costly," Liu, who is 27, said. It wasn't until 2006, when Liu's dad visited China for the first time since he left, that he discovered how tea brought people together. When Alice Liu's parents first immigrated to New York in the late 1980's from Taishan, China, they opened, in succession, a restaurant, a DVD shop, and a shoe store. ![]() Grand Tea & Imports wasn't the first business the Lius ran. Jingyu Lin for Insider Alice Liu Second-generation New Yorker, Grand Tea & Imports The shop was also a way for Liu's dad to make sure his two daughters, who were born and raised in America, could reconnect with their heritage. It began in the small corner in Liu's dad's shoe store, where he began selling tea that he brought back from China in his suitcase in 2006. "I wanted to keep it like this because it's the comfort, it's to know she's here with me," she said.Īlice Liu inside her father's store, Grand Tea & Imports. Ting said preserving the shop was a conscious decision to remember her mother, who passed away in December. Not much has changed with the shop over the years - no Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, which Ting said she's hopeless at. Now, it's her daughter, Jona, who drops by the store once in a while to hang out with Ting. "Everyone would say, if it can't go through Eleanor, it's not worth selling," Ting joked.Įven as she grew older and got other jobs, Ting continued to work at the store, dropping by after work to help her parents. As a mischievous kid, Ting played with all the toys in the shop, trying to see if they would really break. LUCKY STRIKE CHINATOWN TVTing and her sisters helped their parents ever since they were little, servicing customers who came in and watching TV in their downtime. Ting's Gift Shop sells Chinese souvenirs, dolls, porcelain, and other knick-knacks, and has commandeered the same spot on the corner of Pell Street since 1958. After a while, you want to be your own boss." ![]() "When you're in Hong Kong, you work for other people. When mom and dad got married, dad asked mom what she wanted to do, and she said she wanted to run a gift shop," Ting said. ![]()
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