Linda and Andrea Pomeroy sell tea out of their shop in the old Post Office on Anoka's Main Street, but their business is selling a fantasy of a slower-paced past.

The Mad Hatter Tea Room is a shrine to the nearly bygone ladies' tea. Upon entry, visitors can choose a vintage hat, gloves and costume jewelry; a back-room bulletin board is covered with photos of adult friends bedecked in finery and little-girl tea parties.

Suitably adorned, visitors can promenade through ivy-covered latticework to a shabby-chic tearoom of distressed hutches and a linen- and lace-covered tables, set with vintage china and silver.

Enter the Pomeroys, a mother-daughter team who discovered tea during their cubicle days about seven years ago, when they'd visit the Buckingham Bee -- now the Avalon Tearoom -- in White Bear Lake. Then they discovered My Mom's Attic, the antiques shop/tearoom near Linda Pomeroy's Anoka home. They got to know the owners, who told them the place would be for sale.

"We bought it within two weeks," Linda said, as the two laughed together.

They sold off the antiques and added tea paraphernalia and gifts, including the china tea sets -- full-sized and miniature -- vintage aprons, hand-pieced quilts and more.

They also expanded the menu, a little. Their fully licensed kitchen is tiny -- the pantry is the old Post Office safe -- so they make fresh scones all day by the half-dozen, in addition to lemon curd, clotted cream and small brews of the daily tea. The lunch menu also is simple: a half egg- or chicken-salad sandwich on a croissant, a cup of soup, cheese and a scone, served on a china luncheon plate.

There's also a three-course tea service on weekends.

Their weekday crowd is mostly retired women with their friends, but weekends draw a full house of girlfriends, mothers and daughters, little girl birthday teas (pink lemonade, actually) and families.

There also are lots of regulars, including Jill Biatek, who drives 45 minutes from her home in Excelsior to visit the Mad Hatter with friends, with her daughter, Kristen, 17, or by herself.

"As my week goes on it's really stressful," she said. "I go there and have tea and have some quiet time and reflect. I go there for some time for myself to relax and just contemplate, a mini-retreat."

Maria Elena Baca • 612-673-4409

Maria Elena Baca • mbaca@startribune.com