History of Corner Stores & Froyo in San Francisco

Foodhall, San Francisco

Fro-yo girl here. Everything’s a little fancier in San Francisco, where corner stores and liquor stores just might carry soft serve froyo. The most famous of these is Michaelis Wine & Spirits in the Marina. Michaelis is a liquor store but they also have a counter for counter serve froyo and toppings towards the back of the store. They’ve been serving froyo for at least 15 years, I’m sure, but I’m not sure when they first started serving froyo. I can’t find reviews from over 15 years ago. Way back in 2005, they had 6 flavors of froyo a day and reviewers liked the generous servings and low prices. It was the first liquor store I ever got froyo from. 

Foodhall, which opened in 2016, is an upscale corner market with a coffee bar, pastries, cheese, produce, pantry staples, flowers, and a large wine and spirits collection. And yes, they serve froyo too. It’s Italian style, plain soft serve, made with local Straus organic milk. There are fancy toppings like hazelnuts, olive oil, pine nuts, and espresso.

Loop Neighboorhood opened its first location in 2013. Started by Bay Area gas station operator, Vintners Distribution, Loop envisioned a new type of convenience store, an upscale one that offered healthy food and fresh foods in an inviting environment. There are currently 35 Loop markets and 33 of those have self-serve froyo. Luckily, all three San Francisco locations offer self-serve froyo.

Corner Stores That Used to Offer Froyo

New Russian Hill Market on Pacific Ave. used to offer self-serve froyo but it looks like they discontinued doing so around 2012.

K & D Market on 16th St. in the Mission is a small liquor store that serves Korean food and used to (?) serve froyo. The newest review that mentions froyo is from 2015 and the neon frozen yogurt sign was removed.

Walgreens isn’t exactly a corner store but when they opened the Union Square flagship in 2013, they had self-serve froyo. Walgreens stopped offering self-serve froyo in 2017. Their Upmarket concept was similar to Loop Neighborhood.

Here are the addresses of the markets with froyo:

• Michaelis Wine & Spirits, 2198 Union St, San Francisco, CA 94123
• Foodhall, 3100 16th St., San Francisco, CA 94103
• Loop Neighborhood, 2890 3rd St., San Francisco, CA 94107
• Loop Neighborhood, 1200 19th Ave, San Francisco, CA 94122
• Loop Neighborhood, 2501 California St, San Francisco, CA 94115

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.

Walgreens with Frozen Yogurt Bar Opens in San Francisco

Fro-yo girl here. SF has its first flagship Walgreens store. The expanded and fancified two story Walgreens opened in Union Square last week. I’d been to the location prior to the renovation but hadn’t been often because there are so many other Walgreens locations in SF.

What’s new? The “upmarket” area features pastries from Café Madeline, grab n’ go sandwiches, sandwiches and yes, self-serve frozen yogurt. I spotted three Stoelting machines but one didn’t have fro-yo (not sure if it was out of order or not). There were two cups sizes, the small 8 oz. cup ($3.99) and large 12 oz. cup ($4.99). With the flat rate pricing you pay by the size of the cup and can add as much fro-yo and toppings as you want to the cup.

The frozen yogurt flavors and toppings had cute sticker labels. The toppings bar featured fruit (the berries looked like they had been frozen and were defrosting), popping boba, cheesecake, nuts, candy, cookies, chocolate chips, etc. The toppings in the refrigerated toppings bar area were covered. They had about 16 toppings. I didn’t see mochi.

I was disappointed that they didn’t have any tart flavors. They had basic flavors (chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, cookies n’ cream, birthday cake) and one sorbet. I tried the Tahitian vanilla fro-yo. It was very sweet, smooth and icy. There wasn’t much yogurt flavor. I found the texture and flavor disappointing.

I didn’t see any employees in the fro-yo area, nor did I see sample cups. You get a cup, do your thing, pay and get a spoon at the register. I asked if they planned on rotating flavors and apparently they don’t plan to rotate, so they won’t be carrying tart flavors.

I did like the counter area at the front of Walgreens where you can put your cup of fro-yo down and eat while standing.

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

* WALGREEN’S: 135 Powell St., San Francisco, CA

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.