Bubble tea store to open in the Roanoke City Market Building
JEANNA DUERSCHERL | The Roanoke Times
The owner of an Oriental market and a Vietnamese restaurant is bringing a taste of her culture to downtown Roanoke.
Shilin Bui plans to open QQ Bubble Tea at the market building this month. The business will be in a storefront accessible from Market Street, close to Habana Cafe.
In addition to bubble tea, a tea-based drink mixed with milk and fruit flavoring that contains tapioca balls, the store will sell coffee, smoothies, ice cream and milkshakes, Bui said.
She wanted to open the store because she said when she goes to New York City or Washington D.C. she sees vendors selling bubble tea, but hasn’t seen it in Roanoke. (For the record, Get, a coffee shop on Kirk Avenue, sells bubble tea, as does City Bliss on Campbell Avenue.)
Bui also owns the Fresh Oriental Market at the corner of Williamson and Liberty roads, and the Pho Viet Nam restaurant on Orange Avenue next to the Days Inn.
March 2, 2012 - 9:00 AM
Formosa also serves Bubble Tea. City Bliss offers some really cool flavors of Bubble Tea.
I would rather have bubble tea made by someone who knows and has lived the culture…not some hipster in a distressed t-shirt and too tight jeans.
I’m afraid to know how they can afford to open another place. The restaurant doesn’t get much business and the store doesn’t either.. Much of the stuff on the shelves is out of date and they are only busy the first few days of the week because of the fresh meat they bring in from DC
Nice! The renovated market building has been a pleasant surprise. Lots of independent vendors with interesting menus and good, fresh food. Good luck to QQ Bubble Tea.
If the service is as bad as what you get at Pho Viet Nam, then this won’t last long.
Yay!!! I just moved from Los Angeles where boba is huge—so glad to have it in Roanoke!!