Fro-yo girl here. Freshii opened inside several Los Angeles/Southern California Target locations back in mid-2016. On my last visit to Target in Old Town Pasadena, I noticed that Freshii looked permanently closed. They turned off the flatscreen monitors, removed the snacks, and removed much of the equipment. I asked a Target employee about it and he said that Freshii didn’t do as well as they had hoped, so Target closed all the Freshii locations in the area.
Those locations include:
· Brea
· Culver City
· Irvine (2 locations)
· Pasadena
· Valencia
· West Hollywood
· Woodland Hills
I didn’t call all the locations and verify that the Freshii was closed, but a few of these locations have already been reported as closed on Yelp. I did go to Freshii inside the Target in Pasadena once and I found out that they changed their frozen yogurt. They used to offer plain tart frozen yogurt but they changed to a sweet vanilla frozen yogurt. To be honest, their frozen yogurt has never been good or even average. It also annoyed me that they only offered one size (huge) when I was looking for a snack. The service that I received at Freshii inside Target was poor and the food took forever even though they weren’t busy at all and they didn’t have to cook anything to get my order ready. The Air Canada Freshii deal makes sense for them because people on airplanes don’t have much choice in terms of what they eat (captive audience), so they might even be hungry enough to eat Freshii.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
* FRESHII at TARGET: 777 Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
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.
Fro-yo girl here. Earlier this month I reported that the Target store of the future test market, which includes remodeling and healthier café concepts, had expanded to California.
Target started testing the new healthier café concepts in October 2015 in Chicago and Minneapolis. Nine Freshii locations opened inside Target.
The new Target pilot program called LA25, involves store enhancements at 25 stores in Los Angeles, including better lighting, mannequins and a department store like feel in the apparel area, more beauty department specialists and healthy fast casual café concepts like Freshii and Which Wich sandwiches.
I’m not sure how many Target locations in Los Angeles have a Freshii inside but the Pasadena location does have Freshii, and so does the one in Brea. The Freshii at Target locations in the Midwest are listed on the Freshii website and I assume they’ll add the California ones soon. https://www.freshii.com/target/
I’ve eaten at Freshii in Chicago and San Francisco but I haven't eaten at one in about 3 years. They offered original tart frozen yogurt back then and every time I had it the texture was suboptimal…the last time I went to one in San Francisco, the yogurt machine wasn’t even working.
This is from my old review of Freshii Chicago (from 2010): "They have fat-free, probiotic fro-yo but it's only one flavor (plain) and one size (large, 12 ounces). The price includes your choice of two toppings (choose from fresh fruit, dried fruit, nuts, candy, cookies, granola, sunflower seeds, honey and coconut). I don't think they had mochi.
* Plain fro-yo with strawberries and blueberries ($4.99): The fruit was fresh and the fro-yo flavor was decent (sweet aftertaste, very refreshing, icy, soft, a bit lemony/tart) but the texture was horrible. It was already melted when I first received it and turned to soup in a few minutes. They served melted fro-yo. Yuck!!!"
Once they opened in San Francisco I tried the food a few times. It wasn’t good. Those San Francisco locations have closed for good and it wasn’t just because the frozen yogurt wasn’t good. The food was really bland. It’s all cooked ahead of time and they assemble it to order. The sauce or salad dressing adds the flavor.
Now back to the present day, the food seems a little better now at the Freshii inside Target. The portion seems larger with more veggies. Maybe I just ordered something better than before? They have salads, wraps, bowls, burritos, soups, smoothies and juices. The frozen yogurt is different now – they no longer offer plain tart but it’s now a much creamier faintly vanilla flavor from Island Oasis. There’s only one size (still) and it comes with two toppings for $4.99. But if you get something off the kid’s menu, it comes with frozen yogurt plus one topping. I prefer plain tart to what they’re serving now.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
* FRESHII at TARGET: 777 Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
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.
