03/13/2026
We are sad to announce that despite the team’s best efforts, Penny Cha will be permanently closed after March 22nd. We will forever be grateful for those loyal customers that have supported us throughout these last couple years.
We set out to open Penny Cha because we felt that Stamford’s bubble tea scene was missing warmth, community, and real ingredients. We decided to start this brand rather than franchise because we wanted a truly local store whose offerings reflected the feedback from the community. We chose to be innovative with our recipes and are proud to forever be the first to bring handmade boba to Stamford and CT.
From countless conversations, experiments, tastings, laughs, to puppy adoptions, fundraisers, weddings, mitzvas, boba making classes, and more, we valued all of the opportunities to brighten our community with a tasty treat and a genuine love for making people feel welcomed and seen.
Though we gave it everything, running a small locally owned business in Stamford is exceptionally difficult. Operating with 6+ chain/franchise competitors (and more opening) all in a quarter mile radius certainly makes it more challenging for a local store to survive. Through the tremendous support of our customers we were able to serve our community for 2.5 years, but, we weren’t able to gather enough support in Stamford to make Penny Cha sustainable.
We kindly ask, shop local. Supporting locally owned businesses is how we support each other and encourage more unique and exciting community focused businesses to be created and thrive. Do so frequently, emphatically, and without delay. We always feel there’s more time until there isn’t. Without choosing local, more of those businesses fade and are overtaken by chains that simply don’t care for, prioritize, or invest in our communities the way local business owned and managed by our neighbors do.
Thank you endlessly to our customers, and above all, to our staff (Sidra, Nghi, Andrea, Meredith, and Jhojan) who truly built Penny Cha with their passion and hard work, making working together truly memorable. None of this would have been possible without you.
With love,
Penny Cha
