> I need an explanation of what exactly is a tea and teaware shop? what
> type of experiences did u have have?

You should have an enjoyable, pleasant experience, after all, you're
the customer, right?
In China, lots of stores sell tea only. Some sell only tieguanyin.
Some sell only puer. Some sell tea and tea ware. Some stores sell tea
ware only. Some do wholesale and retail. Any of these stores will
invite you in to drink some tea - may not be good tea, but ok. And the
sales people just sit and chat and chat, all the while brewing tea.

> everytime u go to the store do u purchase tea-and then leave or do u
> sit and chat with owner over several cups of tea?

I find it odd that in tea stores in Canada - they don't want to talk
to you. Their sales people! But they never talk. They just say: "This
tea is good. This tea is good."
If a store actually wants you to sample, (because each person's
preferences are different - and you have to cater to those), then
there should be no problem sampling this and that tea, and, during the
course of sampling, the sales staff should try to explain various
things, and sell you tea.

Oh, but the really 1 good shopping experience I had was in a Chinese
shopping mall - and the owner was very helpful - explaining everthing
to me - all in Cantonese, which I can speak anyway, so no problem
there. And after I bought some tea, she threw in some free stuff,
which I asked for, but was willing to buy. So that was kind of nice.

I think the business model for tea stores in North America is very
different from that in China. Some stores sell tea and tea ware, and
then they have seating space where you can order a cup of tea, like at
The Tea Emporium in Toronto. Then there are some that do tea tastings
(for the novices that don't know much about tea), and then there are
those that actually run tea courses. That's very different from the
business model in China.