Ace Frozen Yogurt Closes in Arcadia, 626 Ice Cream Takes Over

Fro-yo girl here. And Arcadia is down to one froyo shop, Yogurtland, with the recent closure of the oldest froyo shop in San Gabriel Valley, Ace Frozen Yogurt. Ace Frozen Yogurt opened in 1986. The counter-serve froyo shop served Dannon YoCream froyo, smoothies, shaved ice, and more.

626 Hospitality Group took over the Ace Frozen Yogurt space and soft opened recently. The owners are SGV natives and so their flavors are LA-inspired, such as mango calamansi, lychee strawberry, and hojicha. While they launched their ice cream business doing pop-ups and selling prepacked ice cream pints at specialty grocers, they decided to offer soft serve ice cream at the new store, using the soft serve machines purchased by the Ace Frozen Yogurt owners, and call the new business 626 Ice Cream.

It's clear that they respect the history of Ace Frozen Yogurt. They kept their trash can and there are photos of the Ace Frozen Yogurt owners on the wall (one from decades ago and a newer one with the 626 Ice Cream new owners). The toppings bar and soft serve machines are from Ace Frozen Yogurt but with different ice cream and different toppings (chamoy, soybean powder, mochi, nuts, pomegranate molasses, aloe vera, hawthorn flakes).

Soft serve flavors: Black sugar vanilla, Lychee strawberry, Yakult, Mango Calamansi, Hojicha, Malted Chocolate. Two of the flavors are vegan and all of the ones listed are gluten-free. They’re housemade flavors that you can’t get anywhere else. Because of that, 626 Ice Cream is better than Ace Frozen Yogurt ever was. It pains me to say that because 626 Ice Cream serves ice cream, but it’s true. The lychee strawberry soft serve was vegan yet it wasn’t icy or sorbet like and it was bursting with lychee flavor but also quite tangy. I loved the tang and the flavor.

One 8 oz cup is $7.25. You can choose up to two flavors. Add 3 toppings for $1.75.

Here's what they had to say about the transition (from Instagram): 

“Ace Yogurt has been in business for 37+ years. Generations have come through the door, grown up, and brought children and grandchildren of their own. Amber and I came in on a rainy spring day, and were welcomed by the sweetest couple in the world, Jay and Soo. They told us how they had been running the store for 20+ years, after they bought it from the original owner (who they are still close friends with). They went on to explain that they were looking to retire, invest in their health, and spend more time together. Jay finished by saying that he's looking to sell the store. The rest is history.

Fast forward, as we were finalizing the transition, Soo, who is quite reserved in manner of speech, asked "I hope you keep the machines." Many of you might know (and hopefully love) our ice cream, but we were all raised to respect our elders. We are going to honor Jay and Soo's wishes and the heritage of Ace Yogurt, while being true to ourselves. The only answer? Made from scratch soft-serve.

The vast majority of soft-serve is made by opening a pack of industrial dry mix or bottle of liquid base and dumping it into a machine. We understand why the temptation is there. It is many times more expensive and labor-intensive to do things ourselves. But it's all for you, our guest. A true labor of love. This will be our flagship store, the only location where you will find 626 Soft-Serve.

We are excited to plant roots in this community we call home. Someone with more business acumen is likely reading this and seeing a lot of unnecessary risk. But, we believe that not all business decisions need to be reduced to economics. There is a human aspect to doing business that matters. People matter, and this neighborhood will see value in what we are doing. Where there is heart, there is a way.”

* 626 ICE CREAM: 626 Ice Cream, 160 E Duarte Rd, Ste E, Arcadia, CA 91006

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

San Gabriel Valley Froyo Guide & History: Arcadia

 

Fro-yo girl here. If you’re looking for froyo in Arcadia, CA, your options are Yogurtland or Ace Yogurt. Ace Yogurt (160 E Duarte Rd.) is your old school froyo shop that first opened in 1990. It’s counter-serve, located in an older strip mall and serves Dannon YoCream froyo, smoothies, shaved ice, froyo pie and fruit salad. They even have Styrofoam cups. Yogurtland Arcadia (633 W Duarte Rd.) opened back in February 2009 in the strip mall anchored by Arcadia Supermarket. It was 30 cents an ounce and self-serve back then. The last time I went there, it was 49 cents/oz.

There used to be many more froyo shops in Arcadia. It was an early froyo hot spot, particularly at Westfield Santa Anita. Westfield Santa Anita had three froyo shops: Tutti Frutti, Cefiore, SweetXO, and Nubi and the Asian buffet restaurant, Kirin Buffet, also offered self-serve froyo.

Here’s the list of former froyo shops in Arcadia.

• Cefiore, 733 W Naomi Ave, Ste E, from 2008-2010: This branch was located in the same shopping center as Burlington Coat Factory and Daiso. The space is currently occupied by Lazy Bunny Tea House.
• Cefiore, 400 S Baldwin Ave, D3, from 2007-2011: Located inside Westfield Santa Anita, this was a counter-serve shop with four tart flavors.
• Nubi, 400 S Baldwin Ave, Ste 762-L, from 2009-2013: Located on the outside of Westfield Santa Anita food court, near Paris Baguette, this was a self-serve froyo shop. The space is currently occupied by Popbar. The same people own Ono Hawaiian BBQ.
• PinGo Yogurt, 633 W Duarte Rd, opened at Arcadia Center in 2007, two years before Yogurtland opened there. I’m not sure when it closed. It took awhile for the shopping center to remove the PinGo sign.
• Q Yogurt, 1220 Golden W Ave., from 2012-2019. Q Yogurt was in the food court by 99 Ranch. I remember seeing the cutout in the wall where the froyo machine used to be, but I never saw the froyo machine. I’m not sure when they stopped serving froyo but they changed the name of the shop to Q Boba. Maybe? They had froyo in 2012 and didn’t have it in 2014.
• SweetXO, 400 S Baldwin Ave, Ste 1260, from 2013-2015: This was the last froyo shop to open at Westfield Santa Anita though it was much more than a froyo shop. SweetXO carried fun gifts, candy, ice cream, frozen popcorn, cupcakes, brownies, etc. The froyo was self-serve and they had the largest toppings bar ever.
• Tutti Frutti, 1108 S Baldwin Ave., from 2008-2010. This Tutti Frutti offered self-serve froyo in the same plaza as Din Tai Fung and JJ Bakery.
• Tutti Frutti, 400 S Baldwin Ave, from 2012-2013: Tutti Frutti had a self-serve froyo kiosk in Westfield Santa Anita.
• Yophoria, 411 E Huntington Dr, Ste 114, from 2010-2011. This self-serve froyo shop also sold soups, waffles, crepes, pancakes, smoothies, milkshakes, etc.

See I told you that Arcadia was once overflowing with froyo. You could even find it at 626 Night Market (some years).

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

Tried It: Durian Froyo

Fro-yo girl here. I’ve smelled durian before but didn’t dare try it…but then it became a froyo flavor. I knew that you could get durian froyo in Hong Kong but I was surprised to find it in the US. I spotted it at Kirin Buffet, the Asian all-you-can-eat seafood buffet restaurant at Santa Anita Mall in Arcadia.

Kirin positions itself as a healthier buffet and that includes offering froyo for dessert. The froyo is self-serve and they have four flavors. I’m not sure how often they change flavors but it doesn’t seem like they change frequently. There are a few dry toppings available: cookies, sprinkles, dried fruit, marshmallows, chocolate chips and peanuts.

The flavor signs are in English and Chinese. They say that the yogurt is made with real strawberry, blueberry and durian.

Flavors of the day:

* Blueberry

* Green Tea

* Strawberry

* Durian: I’m not a durian fan and I haven’t even tried it before. This flavor was icier than the other three. It smells really bad (unless you like the durian scent) like gasoline mixed with dirty socks but fruitier. It tasted like it smelled…so I couldn’t eat much of it.

The frozen yogurt is not the tangy kind. It’s the sweet kind that tries to taste like soft serve ice cream. The flavors were muted/bland except for the durian but I suspect that a tiny bit of potent durian goes a long way. The best flavor was the green tea, followed by strawberry and blueberry.

They have other desserts that you could add to your froyo, like mochi, Hong Kong egg puffs, cheesecake, cream puffs and cake.

Lunch is $12.95 Monday-Friday from 11:30 AM – 4 PM and $19.95 on weekends.

P.S.  The Sweet XO at Santa Anita Mall closed. They  used to have milk tea froyo, which tasted a lot better than durian froyo.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* KIRIN BUFFET & GRILL: 400 S Baldwin Ave., Ste 440, Arcadia, CA 91007

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.