Yumi Yogurt Returns to Redwood City

Fro-yo girl here. After closing in September 2019, Yumi Yogurt made its triumphant return to Redwood City. It reopened on November 28.

Yumi Yogurt RWC was the first Yumi that I visited and the one that I went to the most often. I visited the new location in the same shopping center as the original. The original building was demolished.

The new Yumi Yogurt features 8 soft serve flavors a day, hard scoop ice cream, Flavor Burst, and shakes. It’s counter-serve, the way it used to be. During my visit, the following flavors were available:

• Vanilla custard
• Italian chocolate
• Chocolate peanut butter Carbolite
• Graham cracker cheesecake Carbolite
• Pistachio cream Carbolite
• Oreo matcha WowCow
• Georgia Peach WowCow
• Cold Brew Coffee WowCow

Carbolite is low sugar, low carb, and low calorie. WowCow is low lactose and low sugar. Ask for samples. I prefer regular yogurt to Carbolite and WowCow, so it’s disappointing to see so many Carbolite and WowCow flavors and so few regular yogurt flavors.

Froyo prices: Small ($7.20), Medium ($8.30), Large ($9.75), Quart ($16.50). Keeping with Yumi’s tradition, portions are very generous.

Décor was simple but pleasant. The logo on the wall says Yumi Yogurt was established in 1985.

* YUMI YOGURT, 1019 El Camino Real, Unit B9, Redwood City, CA 94063

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.

Yumi Yogurt Redwood City Is Almost Ready to Open

Fro-yo girl here. Froyo miracles do happen! The news of Yumi Yogurt’s return to Redwood City took me by surprise. The shop closed on 9/15/2019, after 35 years. The original building was demolished. Six years later, it’s just about ready to open and it’s back at the same shopping center (but different location), Sequoia Station. The old address was 947 El Camino Real and the new, 1019 El Camino Real Unit B9, right next to Little Madfish.

The glass storefront was papered over, so I couldn’t see inside. But they did post a picture of the interior on Instagram on September 3. The post says “our shop is fully ready, the only step left is the final approval from” San Mateo County Environmental Health.

Yumi Yogurt RWC was the first Yumi that I visited and the one that I went to the most often.

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.

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.

Farewell to Yumi Yogurt Redwood City

Fro-yo girl here. Yumi Yogurt just announced the final day for their Redwood City, CA location, Sunday, September 15. I think it was the first Yumi Yogurt that I ever visited. I used to work in downtown Redwood City, within walking distance of Yumi. I remember driving by it all the time and also wondering about the drive thru window (which I’ve never seen being used). I remember when they first added tart froyo and mochi. The child's size froyo was huge and satisfying.

Here’s the Facebook message from Yumi Yogurt:

“For the last 35 years Yumi Yogurt in Redwood City has been a neighborhood staple providing high quality yogurt and ice cream in a family oriented atmosphere. Our ultimate goal was to provide a service, experience and product that was unique, memorable and unlike anything else. It is through our great team here and loyal customers that we have had such a tremendous run.

It saddens us to say, that our time in this location has come to its end. Our last day at this location is on September 15, 2019.

We would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to our customers that have made our journey in Redwood City possible and delightful by supporting Yumi Yogurt. Thousands of you have experienced this unforgettable place, and we treasure every memory with you.

We could not be more thankful for the opportunity to serve you all these years. We hope to continue to serve you at our San Mateo location, which is located at 3955 S. El Camino Real.

Thank you from our family to yours.”

At one point, I’d been to every Yumi Yogurt location. They had six but now there are only two left, San Mateo and Santa Clara. I wish I could make it Yumi Yogurt Redwood City one last time, but I can’t. A froyo friend says that the lease is up and they’re going to build boring office buildings there. According to the Mountain View Voice, the owner said the lease is expiring and "to renew would require an extensive renovation of the aging building that he can't afford. His business partner and uncle also died a year ago and it has been difficult to continue the business without him."

The Redwood City location was the first Yumi Yogurt location.

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

* YUMI YOGURT: 947 El Camino Real, Redwood City, CA 94063

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.