T2 is cherished by tea devotees all over the world – it’s the tea that thousands of people start and end the day with. With 38 stores nationwide, T2 is Australia’s leading tea retailer, offering the country’s largest range of premium, fragrant tea and tea wares from all around the globe.
A select range of T2 teas is also served in some of the best restaurants and cafes throughout Australia while packaged T2 tea can also be found on the shelves of leading food purveyors.
T2 has unfurled and blossomed over the last 16 years, and now sells enough tea per month to make 8 million cups! The iconic brand is beautifully packaged up in an experience that is both unique and immersive; a celebration of the centuries-old art of tea-making.
Maryanne Shearer – Founder and CEO of Tea Too
An avid tea drinker, at a time when coffee was exploding, Maryanne Shearer realised there was a gap in the market for a true retail experience in the tea category.
Maryanne Shearer is the founder and CEO of T2, a leading tea retailer, with the largest range of teas and teawares in Australia. It’s a premium brand that began life over 15 years ago, with its first retail outlet in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. Now, with over 30 stores throughout Australia, T2 sells enough tea per month to make 7 million cups of tea.
Maryanne’s career has been spent in fashion, interiors and retail. In these industries she held creative positions and honed her skills in product development and visual merchandising.
It was whilst working in her own homewares company, over a steaming cup of tea, that the idea for T2 was born. She realised there was an opportunity to apply her background in fashion to give tea a modern edge; to re-invent it to appeal to a new generation of tea drinkers. So, with a quiet determination and a keen business sense, Maryanne’s creativity and retail flair caught the attention of Melbourne tea drinkers far and wide. She developed a retail concept like no other, choosing to base the entire retail experience around how she wanted the customers to feel, see, smell, and taste.
The T2 retail stores are a sensory experience where exploration is encouraged and curiosity rewarded with an immersive journey into tea and all it has to offer. She wanted customers to discover the enchantment and magic of tea, and set out to design a retail experience where they could be engrossed in the moment, discovering flavours that they like, whilst appealing to all the senses.
Her modest and sincere approach, coupled with a sharp intelligence and relentless drive for innovation, is admired by everyone she encounters.
Tea is a very complex product – much like wine, it has hundreds of types, flavours and aromas. So to fully engage with customers, and to help them understand the product, she wanted to educate them – in a fun and entertaining way. She introduced in-store daily tea tastings, and filled a table with all the T2 teas, and encouraged customers to smell, taste, touch and compare the different ingredients and aromas of the teas.
Maryanne believes that success depends on constant re-invention. For inspiration and stimulation she travels regularly, so she can bring back to the business fresh eyes, and an enthusiasm to re-invent the way they do things. She happily admits she does sweat the small stuff, spending a lot of time on details because she believes it is the details that matter to her customers. She sets the bar high, and is very hands on in all aspects of the business – her drive is evident in the growth and success of the T2 brand.
Maryanne is very proud of T2’s success, and still gets excited when she sees someone on the street carrying one of her orange bags.
The CEO of a company that employs over 300 people, her role in the business is to drive and nurture the culture of the business, to keep the passion alive, and the business stable and grounded as it continues to grow. She has a very strong interest in wellbeing, health and nutrition, and enjoys keeping fit. She has a fulfilling family life, with a partner and three children.
Today Maryanne’s modest and sincere approach, coupled with a sharp intelligence and a relentless drive for newness and innovation, is admired by everyone she encounters – this drive and passion is certain to seal the brands future success.