TEASHOPS in Pyinmana have experienced an upsurge in business since Myanmar’s administrative capital moved to nearby Nay Pyi Taw in November 2005, local residents and businesspeople said last week.

“Before Nay Pyi Taw moved here, there were only a few teashops,” said Pyinmana resident Ko Aung Khine Myo. “But now many more are opening and the standard of the teashops has also become higher.”

“I prefer teashops that play music and serve good tea. Now most of the shops in town are like this and I enjoy the wider range of choice,” he said.

Entrepreneur U Win Htun said he opened his teashop, called Chain Tan Pi (It’s Time), in November 2005 with the aim of attracting customers who had moved to Nay Pyi Taw for work.

“My business has doubled since I opened,” he said. “Most of my customers are from Nay Pyi Taw but a lot of local residents also come here.”

While U Win Htun’s teashop is popular for its tea, bean butter rice and goat meat soup, his new shop, which opened in January, is a popular stop for locals looking for Myanmar food, Chinese dim sum and cold drinks.

“There were no cold drink shops in Pyinmana like those in Yangon so I decided to open one at the beginning of the year,” he said.

U Si Thu, the owner of Hlaing teashop, which opened on June, said he is already enjoying an influx of customers and expected more business from workers in Nay Pyi Taw.

“The teashop market is very strong in Pyinmana. I opened my shop both as a hobby and as a business,” he said, adding that the most popular items at his shop among customers are Shan noodles, dim sum and dumplings.

“We also offer a lot of space for parking cars, which is a weakness of many teashops in Pyinmana,” U Si Thu said.

Ko Aung Khine Myo said one drawback of the recent popularity of teashops is that some of them charge high prices.

“I think some charge more because they invest a lot of money in their decorations to make the shop look good,” he said. “The most popular shops have decent décor, good service and good food.”

U Win Htun said the growing number of teashops in Pyinmana has made location increasingly important for new shops.

“Now that I have regular customers I can open a new shop anywhere but new businessmen need to make sure they choose the right place to get customers and have good business,” he said.