Thursday, December 12, 2019

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.

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