Arriving in England, a mix of chance and ambition soon set the young man on the road once more. While running errands to make a living, he bumped into Swedish businessmen that were in town for a meeting. Vernon made an impression and the businessmen told him to reach out if he ever found himself in Gothenburg. Never being the one to shy away from adventure, he promptly decided to drop everything and take off for the Swedish West Coast.

A business card in his pocket and a phone booth in Gothenburg – this was all Vernon had to kickstart his new life in Scandinavia. The astonished businessmen picked him up and found work for him in a factory. He quickly proved ambitious and intelligent enough to be promoted to shift manager but kept working the floor during other shifts as well since his dream of starting his own business would require a hefty starting capital.

His aspirations soon made him a big fish in a small pond at the factory and he found a new job at Kooperativa Förbundet (KF), a giant in the world of Swedish retail. A career move that brought the young man to Stockholm and would prove to be monumental.

The newly minted company was to import and sell wholesale quantities of top-quality teas from the world’s best plantations. Office quarters were leased on the so-called Hump of Hornsgatan, but the property owners and neighbours – mainly art galleries and other creatives – protested against the fine location being used merely for office space and requested that some kind of shop be set up.

And so, the Tea Centre of Stockholm was born.

Beginning as a purely circumstantial and tiny shop, the Tea Centre of Stockholm has become an iconic landmark in Södermalm and the crown jewel of East West Scandinavia AB. It is an old-world, homely shop, where only one product is in focus – tea. A passion for tea permeates the atmosphere of the shop, and even its furnishings are a delight to the true tea enthusiast. High-quality tea, personal service and good ethical standards are the hallmarks of the Tea Centre of Stockholm.

Wholesale remains an important part of the business. However, direct sales to the many tea lovers who come from around the world to visit the Hornsgatan boutique are what the company is best known for.