Cafe in Former Pabst Brewery Quietly Closes
Bon Bon Shop, a French-inspired boba cafe, will continue as a pop-up.
Site of Bon Bon Shop, 1259 N. 10th St. Photo taken March 13, 2024 by Sophie Bolich.
Bon Bon Shop bid farewell to the Brewery District in August after just four months in business. The cafe, which served boba tea, coffee and pastries, opened at 1259 N. 10th St. in April.
In its early days, co-owner Dominique Yang said the business was a popular spot for morning commuters passing through for an early-morning coffee to-go. In the afternoon, it attracted larger groups of boba tea drinkers seeking a midday boost.
In addition to Stone Creek Coffee, fruit teas, milk teas and smoothies, Bon Bon Shop offered French macarons and an assortment of packaged snacks including madeleines, chocolates, cookies and Kinder products.
The cafe’s French flair was a result of Yang’s upbringing in France; she spent most of her life there before moving to the United States 10 years ago.
Yang and her husband, Sai, announced the closure in a late-summer social media post, encouraging customers to continue supporting Bon Bon Shop in its mobile form. The couple have been operating their food trailer—Bon Bon’s original concept—at area farmers markets, breweries, and other locations, offering a menu that includes mochi doughnuts, boba drinks, noodles and crispy fried chicken.
Bon Bon Shop plans to continue operations through October, with regular appearances at the West Allis Farmers Market, Oak Creek Farmers Market, Brown Deer Farmers Market and Art Market Kenosha.
The Yangs have not yet announced their plans for the winter months.
The 784-square-foot cafe space was previously home to Boiler House Cafe, which operated from June 2022 until March 2023. Despite the building’s proximity to several academic and apartment complexes, both of its former occupants struggled to thrive.
Originally built in 1891, the boiler house structure was substantially damaged in a 1909 explosion, which also killed a man. A century late, the building was converted to offices during the redevelopment of the surrounding neighborhood, which brought apartments, hotels, restaurants, taverns, event spaces, retail, breweries and the UW-Milwaukee Zilber School of Public Health to the area.
Before opening Boiler House Cafe, owner Iran Amandah completed a $250,000 buildout of the space, aiming to create an industrial look with modern amenities. Bon Bon Shop made very few design changes during its tenure.
At this time, city records do not indicate any future plans for the space.
For additional information on Bon Bon Shop, including a schedule of upcoming appearances, visit the business’s Facebook page.
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That’s a shame. Sounds like a great concept but so much cafe retail is about being super convenient and visible, and right on the way between where someone is and where they want to go. (Even the side of the street matters if you’re counting on morning/evening car traffic.)
While I’m not overly familiar with the traffic patterns in the Brewery District—auto, foot and bike—I suspect this location wound to better if it were destination retail. Imagine if there were a district or area tour that would start and end there, or something so unique that gamers would want to go to or kids would want to take their parents to. Or, what about making it a speakeasy or something like the SafeHouse in which being a “secret” place IS the concept and where part of the fun is in finding you…
There’s a good reason I’m not an entrepreneur, but I do have my ideas…which are always low-risk because I rarely act on them, at least when money is involved. :-/