Michele Henry thought it would be nice to serve tea and sandwiches at her Downtown boutique while she worked on clothing designs with her customers. She never imagined that the tea service would become so popular that it would overtake her clothing line and become her primary business.

For the past nine years, Henry has been serving tea in fine china, with fancy sandwiches, scones and desserts at her Tea at 1024 shop on Nu'uanu Avenue. Her shop is usually packed at lunchtime with customers wearing big hats and looking to treat themselves to an "afternoon tea" experience.

Tea at 1024 is one of only a handful of tea rooms in the state and might be the only dine-in shop on O'ahu that relies solely on the sale of teas and the accompanying food.

Although Henry's business has been profitable over the years, the 49-year-old Star of the Sea graduate said she never fathomed it would be this successful. The tea service was intended to be a treat for customers in her Michele Henry, A Specialty Boutique store.

"I enjoyed going with my mom Downtown to shop and we would eat and shop, so to me they were one in the same," Henry said. "I thought it would be so nice for (my customers) ... to have some tea in some nice little tea cups and little sandwiches and things like that."

Henry started slowly, with a few tables and chairs in the back of an office space next to her boutique. She rented the front of the room to two women who sold antiques, collectibles and clothing.

But as people began to hear through word-of-mouth about the tea service, customers began to flock to Henry's shop and she eventually had to expand. She knocked a hole in the wall between her boutique and the tea room and she took over the entire space after the two other women left.

The original tea room could seat about 25, but Henry can now accommodate about 35. Once the tea business took root, Henry closed the boutique to concentrate on Tea at 1024.

"The tea room just took off and exploded on its own," Henry said.

Tea is Henry's business, but clothing is her first love. She got her first sewing machine when she was 10 and Henry believes she got her love of sewing from her maternal grandparents, who were tailors who emigrated from Korea.

Her first design was a diaper cover, which she sold at craft fairs. Henry, who has two daughters, then came up with mother-daughter lines of clothing that she wholesaled in Japan as well as in Hawai'i.

In 1996, she took the huge leap and used profits from her home-based business to open the boutique on Nu'uanu Avenue. She expanded her line to include "vintage-inspired" dresses based on designs from the 1920s, '30s and '40s.

"I'm a calculated-risk taker. Yeah, I take risks, but I go it very slowly. I just don't jump off the cliff," Henry said. "I took an existing business and I kind of grew it to a point and kept going one step further and one step further."

And for Henry, the next step was to grow her tea business.

She read books on teas and visited many tea rooms on the Mainland to help develop her business. Henry used money from an insurance policy and funds from her father to purchase expensive bone china from England, as well as teas to make her own blends.

After that, Henry relied on her love of tea and "frilly things" to attract customers.

"There doesn't have to be a lot of seriousness to it because you're just sitting down and enjoying a meal with your friends in a very different setting," Henry said. "I like pretty things and I like frilly things and tea cups. I like things like that and it just makes it so much nicer."

Henry said she's succeeded because she listens to her customers.

She keeps a database on just about everyone who has dined at her shop and she keeps in touch with them through regular e-mails and postcards. Henry also has implemented suggestions from her customers on ways to improve her business, such as her Traveling Teacups catering service.

"You have to be a little creative when you're little," she said. "An important thing for people to consider is when you start a business, it's the people that come to you and buy from you. You've got to keep them."

Henry is Tea at 1024's only full-time worker, although she has a part-time employee and one of her daughters helps out. Even with a tiny staff, Henry said she's still surprised that her business has been able to thrive on just afternoon tea and food.

"I'm very frugal and conservative," she laughed. "I'm making a living on the tea room. I can pay my mortgage and send my kids to private school. I try very hard at making it work."

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.