Painful Froyo Shop Closures of 2019

former Pinkberry La Canada location

Fro-yo girl here. Sadly, every year brings froyo shop closures in California. This was the case even in the heyday of froyo. Of the 48 froyo shops that closed in 2019, I visited 21 of them. These are the ones that I will miss the most:

• OMG! Dessert Lounge, Anaheim: This was an interesting funky independent shop in the gas station parking lot that had self-serve froyo, freakshakes, macarons, cheesecakes, smoothies, milkshakes, frappes, etc. The froyo was better than average. 
• Pinkberry: Every location that closes brings pain, since there are so few left. This year’s casualties include the Blossom Hill location in San Jose, Hillcrest in San Diego, La Canada Flintridge, Little Tokyo (downtown Los Angeles), Newport Beach, San Francisco, and Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica. San Francisco no longer has a Pinkberry, unless you count the one at the SFO Airport. Very sad! Outside of the airport, the remaining Bay Area locations are in Sunnyvale and Palo Alto. I used to visit the La Canada and Little Tokyo locations. The La Canada location, which is now a ramen shop called Kotsu, had machine issues for a long time. Little Tokyo, which is now a Somi Somi (soft serve taiyaki chain) was better. Now there’s no Pinkberry in downtown LA. 
• Yogurt Haven was Eagle Rock’s (a neighborhood in Northeast Los Angeles) first froyo shop. The space is still available. It opened in 2010. The froyo was decent but it did excel at building a sense of community with its open mic nights, live music, and other local events.
• Yogurtland Westwood Village, Los Angeles: This was the last self-serve froyo shop in Westwood Village, across from UCLA. Another froyo shop called Frozen Land took over the space but it’s not self-serve.
• Yumi Yogurt Redwood City: I wrote about this closure early. The Redwood City location was Yumi Yogurt’s very first. It closed after 35 years of serving froyo. The lease was up and the owner couldn’t afford to renovate the old building in order to stay at that location. The building will be torn down and replaced with boring office buildings.

Farewell, old friends. You are missed.

I was tempted to add Fraiche Yogurt in Palo Alto to this list (the shop closed on December 10), but I noticed years ago that the quality had declined. I first noticed this about two or three years ago, right around the time the ownership changed. Friends noticed it too. It's a shame...they had the best housemade mochi. It sounds like their SFO Airport location has also gone downhill. Fraiche Palo Alto was Steve Jobs' favorite froyo shop. 

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.

West Los Angeles Froyo Update

Fro-yo girl here. I recently heard that Frozen Land opened, taking over the old Yogurtland space in Westwood Village, across from the UCLA campus. I never had the chance to go to that Yogurtland, since I figured it would be open for a long time. It was there for ten years, so that is a long time.

Interestingly, there is no self-serve frozen yogurt left in Westwood Village. What’s left? Frozen Land is the only froyo option in Westwood Village proper and it’s no longer self-serve. If you go down Westwood Blvd., you’ll run into Bon Bon Berry, Penguin’s, and The Bigg Chill. Frozen Land offers 10 froyo flavors a day, along with scoopable ice cream and gelato. Bon Bon Berry replaced Frost Frozen Yogurt in 2014 and is known for acai bowls. The Bigg Chill and Penguin’s are old school, from the 90’s. Ralph’s the supermarket in Westwood Village, had self-serve froyo for awhile, but they no longer offer it. I was surprised to see the soft serve machines were still there and the empty toppings bar.

This move away from self-serve is surprising, when self-serve was all the rage for years. You can still get self-serve froyo in West LA but you have to go to Century City. Culver City, Brentwood, and Santa Monica. West Los Angeles was an important place for froyo, but it no longer feels like froyo central. Red Mango opened its first US location in Westwood Village, Pinkberry’s first location was in West Hollywood, and Pinkberry HQ was in Santa Monica. On the other hand, Westwood Village has a lot of empty storefronts, so it’s not just froyo that’s suffering.

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.