Tariffs and Fewer Tourists: Las Vegas Chinese-Owned Boba Chain Brew Tea Bar Sees Sales Drop 20 to 30 Percent
Sou Ngo, who runs the Brew Tea Bar boba chain in Las Vegas, Nevada, says sales are down 20% to 30% from last year because fewer people are traveling to Las Vegas — while the cost of imported cups, tea and matcha has risen sharply amid tariff policies and the situation in the Middle East, squeezing the small business from both sides.
Ngo founded Brew Tea Bar in 2015 with two close friends and has since grown it to five locations. Frank Fossen, an economics professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, notes that Las Vegas depends heavily on tourism, so economic pressure hits local small businesses harder than in other cities; when visitors stay away, everything from dining to retail suffers.
Bubble tea is one of the most emblematic businesses in the Chinese community. Brew Tea Bar's experience reflects the chain effect of tariffs on Asian-owned small businesses: most of a boba shop's supplies — cups, straws, tea, matcha — are imported, and rising costs eat directly into thin margins, while raising prices risks scaring off the few customers who remain. (GSM, from CDC Gaming reporting)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：珍珠奶茶（资料图）。图片：CC0，来源 Wikimedia Commons。Photo: Bubble tea (file photo). CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
