Thursday, December 27, 2018

The Decline of Qoola Frozen Yogurt


Fro-yo girl here. It’s painful to document a froyo chain’s demise but I need to document good and bad news. It seemed like a few years ago, Qoola was growing quite a bit and becoming Western Canada’s self-serve frozen yogurt chain. They added a froyo truck, introduced new products, switched to organic Canadian froyo, and introduced new store concepts like Qoola Fresh which included healthy entrées, desserts, and sandwiches.

Qoola started with one store in Vancouver, BC in 2008. While it didn’t initially serve Canadian yogurt, it later made the switch to organic frozen yogurt from Ontario’s Mapleton’s Organic Dairy Farm. I visited the original location in Vancouver while it was still serving American froyo and wasn’t self-serve.

Now every time I try to visit their website, I get a message about a mass injection attack. This has been going on for months, so I am assuming that they aren’t paying attention to their website. I’m not able to visit the website to see their list of locations. Most of them were in British Columbia.

There are still occasional tweets, FB posts, and Instagram posts from @qoola, but these are few and far between. Their current LinkedIn profile says that they have 18 locations. I have a feeling that number hasn’t been updated in quite some time. What’s particularly alarming is how several shops didn’t even last a year.


OPEN

  1. Richmond, Aberdeen Centre 
  2. York Lanes, York University 
  3. Garden City 
  4. Guildford 
  5. Robson, Vancouver 
  6. Hillside Mall, Victoria 
  7. Uptown, Victoria 

CLOSED

  1. Cook St. Village Victoria 
  2. Coquitlam Centre (grand opening in 2017, already closed) 
  3. Metrotown, 2250 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC V5H 4N2 
  4. 2945 Jacklin Rd, Langford, BC, V9B4V5 
  5. Park Royal, West Vancouver 
  6. UBC 
  7. North Vancouver 
  8. Westshore Town Centre, Victoria 
  9. Square One, Mississauga 
  10. Pacific Center, Vancouver 
  11. Oakridge, Vancouver 
  12. Yates, Victoria 
  13. Orchard Park, Kelowna 
  14. Market Mall, Calgary 
  15. Woodgrove, Nanaimo 
  16. Greenbelt, Makati, The Philippines 


There were 4 locations in late 2011, 16 locations in December 2014 and 21 locations in 2016. They acquired two Yeti Yogurt locations in 2016 and both of those closed quickly. Twenty one might have been the peak number. Things are looking grim for froyo in the Pacific Northwest area.

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.

3 comments:

Kalee P said...

Okay but why did they close so many locations

Anonymous said...

I thought it was weird how I couldn't find a single froyo place when I visited Vancouver Island. There's only 2 Qoola chains in their biggest city, Victoria! And their latest tweet was in May 13, 2018... Sad sad times for froyo lovers on the island. Thanks for the info!

SailorSaturn said...

Well, read this late but the ones in Uptown and Hillside are gone now. Sad, because I still have their loyalty card and cup. Guess they'll just be mementoes now.