INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) - One of the greatest women’s basketball players ever stands behind the counter of Tea’s Me Café Indy on the north side at 140 East 22nd Street.
“Would you like to have some tea with me?” asks Tamika Catchings in her best British accent.
The former star of the Indiana Fever, who retired as a player after last season, serves a tea time assist at the shop she now owns.
“Overall tea is just good for you,” said Catchings. “That's one of the things growing up that we always had is tea in our house."
Catchings was a longtime customer at Tea’s Me.
“One of the things that I loved about this place was it was an escape away from the court and away from the basketball world. Literally, I would come in here and the majority of people wouldn't even know who I was. It really became like my home away from home."
After a decade in business, previous Tea’s Me previous owner and founder Wayne Ashford is moving south. Ashford was ready to close the tea shop in Indy and plans to start a similar business in Savannah, Georgia.
“Your dreams can never live by themselves,” said Ashford. “You can dream as much as you possibly can, but if you don't attach your dream to someone else's dream, it doesn't live. I have a customer Tamika Catchings come in who has had a relationship with tea in her life as well as a child, so I've been able to take my dream and attach it now to her dream."
Tamika heard about the place potentially closing. Casual conversations with Ashford led to Tamika buying Tea's Me in February.
“If you were able to pick every person on your team, I would start with her being the number one person on my team, so to speak,” said Ashford. “It’s very flattering and I'm very excited about this brainchild of mine moving forward with her touch and brand and taste."
Tamika's taste preference is to have no basketball flavor around Tea's Me. The walls will soon be decorated with works for sale by local artists. The only hint of basketball is a small 24, Tamika’s jersey number, in the new Tea’s Me logo.
Tamika admits she worried about her car windows getting broken out when she first visited the tea shop years ago. But now Tea’s Me is part of a revitalized and growing neighborhood. Tea’s Me is open 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. for breakfast and lunch.
“You look across the street and you look at the buildings and different restaurants that are being placed on the street, they're trying to build this area up to the point where people want to come here like Broad Ripple, like Mass Ave,” said Catchings.
Tamika just finished her first season as a basketball commentator for the SEC Network. She will still be involved with projects for Pacers Sports and Entertainment. The Legacy Tour of her Catch the Stars Foundation (http://catchthestars.org/) will continue this season with basketball clinics in every WNBA city. But she enjoys a fresh brew to her life off the court.
“When I'm in town I'm here and I love that,” said Catchings. “Of course, I'm not like full time staff or anything, but just to be around when people come in. Especially now that the news is out, a lot of people when they come in they want to see me. Literally, I'm here all day, talking all day and I love it.”
Tamika plans to hire a few high school juniors and seniors through her foundation to work at the shop.
“I want to be able to provide them an opportunity where they can learn how to serve. Being able to really teach them about eye contact, about communicating, about how you dress, pulling your pants up, not having hats on - different things that you need to learn when you're serving people in this situation. I kind of like look at us as a pond and then they'll go to the lake and eventually go to college and get into the ocean.”
Tamika is hosting an open house at Tea’s Me 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Saturday to celebrate her new venture.
