Billy Corgan Opening Chinese-French 1930s Tea House in Highland Park, Ill.

Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan is getting on the celebrity restaurant bandwagon but with different intentions. Reported by Eater.com, Corgan is opening a Chinese-French, 1930s-style tea house in Chicago suburb Highland Park, where he currently resides. But, the tea house isn’t some attempt at branding. Rather, Corgan explains: "We want to open it because there's nothing really to do up here. […] But [there's a] lack of culture for someone in their 30s or 40s. I think for such a nice place you need places to go and meet people and exchange ideas. That's the idea for the tea house ... a place to gather."

The former post office in the Ravinia neighborhood is the site of the future tea house, which is scheduled to open in March or April. Large enough to fit 30 people, the spot will have an “old school” vibe. Corgan said: "It has a whimsical feel to it ... it'll feel like you're stepping back in time in terms of space, but what we put into the space will change. My dream number is changing it 15 to 20 times a month where you're inviting people to talk about film or have an open mic night."

While Starbucks has a national monopoly on coffee and tea houses, Corgan and his team plan to make their place stand out through a varied selection of teas, healthier and possibly vegan sweets, and attractions, like exhibits. He stated: "Starbucks is all about 'sameness' and it attracts the same f*cking people. I don't want to hang out with those people. I'm not into that cookie-cutter culture."

Although geared toward a mixed-age crowd, Corgan may even hang out there himself, but under one condition: "if people come in to stalk me I won't hang out because I don't want to disrupt the customers."

Unlike Britney Spears’ Nyla, Corgan’s tea house, which will be managed by friends who own a wine shop across the street, isn’t a celebrity restaurant: "The celebrity factor will mean something for the first four to six months and then it'll come down to whether it's a good business."

The tea house, along with stake in a wrestling club, makes Corgan, who is working on a Smashing Pumpkins album scheduled for this year, well-rounded. He explained: "I've learned that if you don't fill up the other side of your life with things you're interested in it hurts the musical side. It's about achieving balance."