Young guy thinking about starting a tea store. Anyone with exp. in specialty retail have any advice or experiences to share?

Hey all,

Early 20's recent college grad here. Been mulling the idea of opening a tea retailer for a while now, but over the past few weeks I've become more serious about the idea and have started to draft a business plan, look into funding, search out suppliers, etc. I don't know many people in this line of business, so I figured I would start out here, throw out some info and see if anyone has any advice or experience they would be nice enough to share.

Here's some info on what I'm thinking of doing, and what I think I have going for me:

*I'm looking to open a brick and mortar tea store selling bulk tea, accessories and made to order tea and coffee. Also looking to open an online store selling the same stock.

*Good knowledge of tea, especially Chinese tea. I speak Chinese and have a fair number of contacts in China, which could help when working directly with suppliers.

*The area I'm looking at is fairly wealthy and wasn't hit too hard by the recession. It's outside a major city, and has a lot of colleges in the area, making it something of a mix between young/hip and yuppie. Lots of walkable space next to high-traffic roads. Rents are fairly high, but a little research has shown that they're not too unreasonable.

*No specialty tea stores in the area, with the exception of a Teavana in a local mall.

*I've worked several retail and food service jobs, so I have a basic idea of what is involved in the day to day grind.

*I work like a furious robot when I'm into what I'm doing. I also live very simply and have few financial obligations. Figure it's good to take a risk like this while I don't have to worry about insurance or family responsibilities.

Problems:

*Don't have much money saved, so I would be very dependent on loans.

*Studied liberal arts/languages...no real experience with or background in financial matters or business operations.

Anyone here taken the plunge on something like this before? It would be awesome to hear some peoples' take on this idea, or just hear some experiences from the world of specialty retail.

Thanks!

Edit: Formatting