Appleton’s AmberLulu is packing up its bubble tea and dessert playbook and heading to Milwaukee’s East Side, staking out a storefront along the Farwell Avenue corridor. The small, family-run shop has built a reputation for colorful drinks and sweets with names like Red Dragon and Mermaid Melody, and the Milwaukee entry is set to give the neighborhood another late-night dessert option.
The expansion first surfaced publicly on May 19, 2026, in an article by Urban Milwaukee, which outlined the Appleton brand’s lineup of teas, desserts and playful specialty drinks. That report said AmberLulu is planning a full-service storefront on Milwaukee’s East Side.
From Appleton Roots
AmberLulu started in downtown Appleton, where local business groups list the shop at 823 W. College Ave and credit it with building a regular customer base for bubble tea and pastries. The Appleton storefront appears in local listings and chamber guides such as the Heart of the Valley Chamber, which shows the College Avenue address.
New East Side Outpost and Hiring
A listing on Uber Eats shows an “Amberlulu MKE” storefront at 1956 N. Farwell Ave on the East Side, signaling that the brand’s Milwaukee footprint is starting to take shape. Urban Milwaukee also lists a Milwaukee entry for AmberLulu in its business directory, reflecting the same expansion.
On the hiring front, the business is advertising barista openings for a Milwaukee location on Indeed, a sign that AmberLulu is moving from planning to staffing as it gets closer to opening its doors.
What It Means for the East Side
The Farwell-Brady corridor has long been one of Milwaukee’s classic commercial stretches, especially for cafes and dessert spots, according to the city’s neighborhood descriptions. City of Milwaukee materials highlight the area as a neighborhood commercial corridor, the kind of place where a specialty tea shop can tap into steady foot traffic from students and nearby residents.
Small-Business Backstory
Behind the scenes, AmberLulu’s path from a downtown Appleton storefront to a growing regional brand has come with help from small-business mentors. SCORE’s Northeast Wisconsin chapter cites AmberLulu and owner Fanni Xie as a success story in mentorship and financing, highlighting the shop’s growth as one example of how guidance and support programs can help local entrepreneurs scale up.
There is no firm opening date yet for the Milwaukee outpost, and the company has not announced an official grand opening. For now, Milwaukee diners will have to watch delivery app listings and job postings to trace AmberLulu’s rollout as staffing and permits continue to move forward.
