A number of shops mostly providing tea (4)
I believe the answer is:
chai
'tea' is the definition.
(I know that Chai is a type of tea)
'a number of shops mostly' is the wordplay.
'a number of shops' becomes 'chain' (I've seen this before).
'mostly' means to remove the last letter.
'chain' with its last letter taken off is 'CHAI'.
'providing' is the link.
(Other definitions for chai that I've seen before include "Form of tea" , "lady" .)