There’s a new doll shop in Santa Clara that serves drinks in mason jars adorned with cute corgis, and it explodes with fans coming back again and again to collect specific glasses. Boba Pup is a new doll shop that opened in the spring of 2021, near the high school in this plaza that is a kind of suburban Korea-town. And that’s great, because now you can eat a delicious barbecue and chase after it with a sweet doll drink – and also, the glasses are really, really cute.
Owner Vivienne Tran also owns a doll shop called Moo Bar in Seattle, which she opened in 2017, when her husband started working at Amazon. During the plague she wanted to return to the Bay, and opened her second Boba Pup store in Santa Clara in March 2021. Tran says the corgi theme grew organically out of popular demand: she originally wanted to use glass containers to avoid all the plastic cups and hardships doll shops usually waste. She also happens to love dogs, so she started sketching designs for cups, partly inspired by her spokesperson. Maybe a cute glass would sweeten the deal, she thought, and encourage customers to reuse their glasses to drink water or drink beer with friends at home.
She started exploring different designs at Moo Bar. “We started a series with all kinds of dogs: Husky, Sheba, Doberman,” she says. “But people just want the corgis. We tried a lot! But the only thing that interests people is the corgis.” She also describes the Corgi as “Amazon’s first dog,” meaning the most popular breed among those tech workers, who often went into the store with their puppies. So until she opened Boba Pup in Santa Clara, she decided to go for a cute Corgi branding. Boba Pup hugs dogs by the name, with Corgi in the logo, waving at him his fuzzy peach; And although it mixes it up and offers different designs, corgi cups have undoubtedly remained the most popular.
So here’s the deal: If you go to a puppet and order a drink, the glass costs an extra $ 2, and you can not choose which glass, the rules of the garden apply – you get what you get and do not get upset. It he You can order the specific cup you want online and get it shipped, but it’s $ 8 per cup plus shipping. Boba Pup does not offer any plastic cups or straws, which is amazing. If you have already bought a glass, you can return it for refilling, provided it is clean and marked. True fans have been watching Instagram for the latest editions, if you really like Corgi Doll, who will not be? Tran says the most popular version so far has been the training corgi, who struggled to do bench press or squats, resulting in an hour-long queue at the opening of Saturday. For the holidays, it will feature sporting skis and Santa hats for the first time; She also mixes it with animation and comics inspired by comic books.
Rest assured, the doll is also actually of good quality. Boba Pup is part of the new school of doll stores that have released creams in powdered creams and artificial flavors, and insist on using all natural ingredients, including organic milk and fresh fruit, as well as oat milk and other dairy options. The store cooks the pearls in small portions throughout the day, cooks their brown sugar syrup, and mashes fresh oats and strawberries. The most popular drink is a lollipop spun with coconut milk and a really mashed purple sweet potato.
Of course, there are people who complain about the extra cost, and as always comes up in the conversation about reusable containers, it is clear that plastic will be more convenient for everyone involved. Boba Pup is located right next to Santa Clara High School, so a lot of high school students frequent the store. But Tran says it keeps pricing as low as possible, that two dollars sells the cups at production value, and it ultimately commits to reusable containers. In Seattle it took a few years for people to come up with the concept, she says, but even the people who believe in sustainability and want to collect cute glasses all the time are back, and she hopes the same thing is discovered in Santa Clara. .
Upon further investigation, it turns out that this is not the first Corgi doll store in the Bay Area. Boba Butt Tea House is another store in San Francisco, which opened in 2018, and is still temporarily closed, although the site is active if you want to buy merchandise. It has a completely different owner and a different logo, but one that stands out prominently under Corgi. Tran confirms that she has been selling her own dog designs for some time, before she was even aware of it, but she is also not at all surprised by the coincidence. but why? Why not have one doll shop but two in the Bay Area, dedicated to the short-legged breed of the dog’s particularly sloppy back?
“A lot of people don’t actually have corgi, they just think they’re cute,” Tran says. “I would not be surprised if more popped up … Doll and puppies are a good combination for marketing.” She says that several corgis of celebrities on Instagram stopped near the store. And sometimes her husband even sends her a message from Costco, when he sees a glass of corgi roaming in nature.
