Photo courtesy of The Spice & Tea Exchange
Jim and Tammy Ryan have long dreamed about opening their own Spice & Tea Exchange location. With a family cabin in Prescott since 1982, Jim has spent much of his life in Prescott and watched his dad rope in the Prescott Rodeo for many years. Thanks to the support of the community and fellow store owners, the Ryans are finally seeing their dreams come to fruition.
The Spice & Tea Exchange of Prescott, at 101 E. Gurley St., opened its doors in July and celebrated a grand opening in October.
“We love this community and the people of Prescott,” says Tammy Ryan, franchise owner of The Spice and Tea Exchange of Prescott. “Our favorite part of being in the store is meeting people. We love the Plaza and all the activities that happen here. There has been an outpouring of support from the locals, and we are so grateful to them. And we absolutely love this building and its history.”
The shop is part of downtown district steeped in Wild West history. Doc Holiday and Virgil Earp, brother of Wyatt, called Prescott home, frequenting saloons just across the street from where the store is now.
The shop’s building is on the National Register of Historic Places as the longest-running bank in Arizona, open from 1877 to 1998. It was the first bank in the Arizona Territory, reflecting the mining boom and gold rush of the 1800s. Designed in the classical style with rustic brick and tall columns, the building’s historic feel complements the old world feel of glass jars displaying The Spice & Tea Exchange’s sourced spices, herbs, aromatics, salts, sugars, honey and more, making it feel like a Western apothecary.
The in-house spice master hand mixes custom spice blends, while the tea bar offers hot and cold brews of the shop’s many tea varieties, including Tammy’s favorite, Blueberry Black. Jim’s original favorite spice blend was the Kahuna Seasoning Salt, but he says the store is literally a foodie and griller paradise, and he is always finding a new favorite.
