After a three-week-long soft launch and a great deal of community excitement, Ocean State Spice & Tea Merchants officially opened its doors in Wayland Square on Nov. 9.
The shop carries over 180 varieties of loose-leaf teas and stocks over 80 in-house spice blends, said Matthew Mazzarella, who co-owns the business with his fiancee Jessica Neubauer. Customers can also find various specialty products like chocolates, flavored sugars and peppers lining the shop’s shelves.
A Massachusetts native, Mazzarella grew up in Somerset and moved to Providence four years ago. He worked as a senior manager at Comcast for 18 years, but “took a leap of faith” in order to pursue his passion for tea and wellness by leaving the company and opening the shop.
The store is part of a small franchise called Spice and Tea Merchants with 16 locations across the country, Mazzarella explained, from which the Wayland location sources its products. He said this business model allows them to “customize” their store to their own desires while still maintaining “support from the franchise.” This autonomy includes the choice to carry an abundance of locally sourced goods.
But beyond the products alone, the owners have also worked hard to curate a “calming and relaxing” environment for customers, Mazzarella added. Reclaimed wooden beams stretch along the walls of the shop, while antique teapots and sewing machines sit upon the windowsills. A mural of Providence landscapes extends across the ceiling.
“It all has history to it,” Mazzarella said.
Several visitors also commented on the ambiance and the variety of products offered.
Customers Bo-yeon Jang and Alyssa Posecion reflected positively on the store while sipping samples of candy apple and dreamberry tea. After buying most of her tea online, Posecion was glad to visit an in-person store “with so much variety.”
“It’ll make gift-giving way easier,” Jang added.
Warwick resident Katie Smith visited the store in search of spices for her simmer pot. She also expressed her enthusiasm for the new establishment. “You can get tea in any Starbucks, but you get to personalize it” in small businesses, she said.
According to Mazzarella, this sense of community was very important in choosing the Wayland location. He recounted how he “fell in love with the area” during his and Neubauer’s near-daily bike rides.
“I just love the feel and the local, small community,” he said. “It’s like a little village down here.”
But while Wayland Square’s charm drew Mazzarella in, locals have noticed a drop in foot traffic to the area since last year’s Washington Bridge closure. Since then, four businesses have exited the square: Minerva’s Pizza, Salted Slate, Feed the Cheeks and local staple Wayland Square Diner — which first opened in 1957.
Wendy Brown, the owner of home furnishing company Wendy Brown Home in Wayland Square, explained how road closures have led to a general decrease in East Bay customers. The rerouting of traffic down Angell Street, congestion on Gano Street and “bumper-to-bumper traffic” on the Henderson Bridge have all negatively impacted businesses in the Wayland area, she explained.
Angie DiMeo, co-owner of East Side Cheese & Provisions, expressed similar sentiments. Although the initial opening of their specialty cheese shop in July 2023 was “amazing,” the bridge closure “took the wind completely out of our sails,” she said.
DiMeo described how Wayland Square and Angell Street were turned into a kind of “massive highway, with boats and semis and all sorts of trucks” congesting the roads. People began to avoid the square because they did not want to deal with the traffic, she added.
“We just hope that the holiday season is going to be better than last year,” Brown said. She highlighted how the bridge was closed just two weeks before last year’s Christmas — a peak season for Wayland businesses. “That was a disaster for everyone in the square.”
But some business owners say they have not seen this negative impact. Kristin Sollenberger, owner of Paper Nautilus Books, stated that business has been steady and that the shop is “in a good place,” but theorized that this might be because her used bookstore is the only one of its kind in the area.
Ocean State Spice & Tea Merchants has not been open long enough to experience any lulls from bridge traffic, Mazzarella said. After already starting to receive repeat customers, he is optimistic about the store and hopes to organize more tea tastings and other events in the future.
So far, he has found the community “warm” and “welcoming,” and he says he is eager to work with more small businesses. “It’s hard work and sleepless nights,” he said, “but it’s worth it.”
