Cuples Tea House and Vinyl and Pages will close their Harborplace location at the end of the summer, owners Lynnette and Eric Dodson announced Thursday on Instagram. The linked businesses will continue to sell tea and books online after shutting their doors, according to the post.

“Although our physical location will be closing, this is not the end,” the married owners wrote, adding that they planned to appear at local festivals, farmers markets and pop-ups.

The Dodsons, who could not immediately be reached for comment, founded Cuples Tea House as an online and mobile business in 2015. They opened a Howard Street storefront in 2021, adding Vinyl and Pages nearby two years later. The record store relocated to the Inner Harbor in 2024 with support from Downtown Partnership, and Cuples moved into the same space shortly after.

Through the years, the shop “has become a place where people gathered to celebrate, heal, laugh, learn, connect and simply be,” the owners wrote Thursday. “Together, we shared thousands of cups of tea, beautiful events, countless conversations and unforgettable memories... and met some pretty dope people along the way.”

Advertise with us

The owners didn’t provide a reason for the shutdown, but the shop, along with others operating in the largely abandoned Harborplace shopping center, faced an uncertain future as MCB Real Estate prepares to demolish the pavilions this year. Other former short-term tenants, including Crust by Mack, have also closed their branches or, like Oleum Vegan Kitchen, relocated. Most long-term tenants, including Hooters and The Cheesecake Factory, have already closed their doors.

The Dodsons wrote that rather than “quietly closing our doors,” they will spend their remaining time at Harborplace hosting special events, including tea experiences and book talks. Though they did not provide an exact date for their shuttering, they invited customers to “Come make one more memory with us before we close our doors.”