Biggby Coffee shuts down its two Milwaukee-area shops, ending a short local expansion effort

Two closures, one brand-new downtown footprint now dark

BIGGBY Coffee has closed its two Milwaukee-area locations, leaving the chain without an operating storefront in the metro area after a brief expansion push that included a prominent downtown café inside the Red Arrow Park building.

The downtown shop opened in late November 2024 in the park’s Milwaukee County-owned café space at 920 N. Water St., a location that had previously housed Starbucks for nearly two decades before that operator exited in November 2023. The changeover was the result of a county vendor selection process to fill the long-vacant space and restore year-round beverage service tied to Red Arrow Park programming.

The second location served suburban customers in Franklin. Both shops are now closed.

What is known about the Red Arrow Park location

The Red Arrow Park café was positioned as a high-visibility entry point for a Michigan-based coffee franchise with hundreds of stores nationwide. The Milwaukee operation was locally run under the franchise model; the Red Arrow Park shop was promoted with extended hours and an emphasis on serving park users during major seasonal draws, including the winter ice rink.

Public-facing materials tied to downtown events and park programming continued to reference the café into 2025, reflecting its role in beverage service for activities around the park.

Why the closures matter for downtown and the surrounding market

The shutdown removes a daily-service café from one of downtown Milwaukee’s most trafficked public spaces, where food-and-beverage tenancy has historically been closely linked to skating season and lunchtime office foot traffic. For Milwaukee County, a vacancy would again raise operational questions about how to provide reliable concessions within the park building during programmed events and winter operations.

For the market, the closures underscore the challenge of sustaining chain coffee concepts in areas already served by multiple national brands and a dense network of local cafés—particularly when success depends on consistent staffing, predictable hours, and event-driven surges.

Key timeline

• November 2023: The long-running Starbucks in the Red Arrow Park café space closed after its tenancy ended.

• December 2023: BIGGBY Coffee was selected as the next vendor for the Red Arrow Park café space.

• November 25, 2024: The BIGGBY Coffee café opened at 920 N. Water St. in Red Arrow Park.

• March 9, 2026: Community reports and business listings indicated the Red Arrow Park café and the Franklin shop had closed.

BIGGBY Coffee’s local presence in Milwaukee was anchored by the Red Arrow Park café, a rare county-owned concession space whose viability is tied to downtown activity and seasonal programming.

What comes next

No public reopening date or replacement operator has been confirmed for the downtown café space. Any new vendor would typically require county approval and coordination with park operations, including event schedules and winter rink service. In the near term, the closures shift demand back to nearby coffee options and leave the park café building without an active tenant.