Friday, December 14, 2012

Frozen yogurt, cupcake shops closing in Dilworth

Two relatively new food options on East Boulevard are closing this weekend, as Freshberry Frozen Yogurt and Smallcakes Cupcakery throw in the towel.

The neon-accented stores opened in the former Blockbuster location at Kenilworth Avenue and East Blvd. just this summer. I wrote about them when they were first announced in February, which you can read about here.

Sunday will be the last day of business for Freshberry and Smallcakes. There's no word yet on what will be replacing the stores. Owner Nick Smith was out of town Thursday, said a woman at the store.

Smith, a longtime Charlotte franchise owner who opened the city's first Jersey Mike's sub shop and Moe's Southwest Grill restaurants, will be featured in an upcoming Observer store on franchising. He said that the Freshberry/Smallcakes concept is closing due to slow traffic.

That certainly seemed to be the case Wednesday night, when I went by the restaurant on my way home from work. A man in a cowboy hat was spinning LED lights to lure people into the nearly-empty parking lot.

Freshberry was entering an already crowded fro-yo marketplace, with a slew of businesses including Yoforia, Tasty Yo, Pinkberry, TCBY, Cherry Berry, and the Frozen Isle. And directly across the street from Freshberry, on the opposite corner in the Kenilworth Commons shopping center, is Menchie's, a fro-yo franchise that opened last year.

Read more here: http://obswhatsinstore.blogspot.com/2012/02/frozen-yogurt-cupcakes-subs-headed-to.html#storylink=cpy


A Jersey Mike's that occupies the other half of the former Blockbuster building will remain open. 





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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I live down the street, and the day I saw both of these places open, I knew they would close in about a year if not sooner. Cupcakes? Come on. FroYo? Menchies is the best in town...

Anonymous said...

The new normal.

Anonymous said...

Some trends are just that, trends.

Personally, I think the cupcake business is one of the worst franchise ideas in recent memory.

I really didn't see the appeal beyond a short fad.

There is only room for just a few cupcake shops out there and they had better be really good.

Frozen yogurt not so bad as ice cream and other frozen treats have been a favorite for decades.

Julie said...

See...their mistake was to move in across the street from Menchie's. I'd choose Menchie's over any other fro-yo joint....so had they not done that--they might have been able to make it. Glad Jersey Mike's is staying.

Anonymous said...

There are cupcake shops and frozen yogurt places all over this city already. Do people no longer do market research before opening a new store?

Anonymous said...

I hate to see stores go out of business, but I can't say I'm surprised. They opened literally across the street from 1) Menchies, an already-successful (and better) frozen yogurt store and 2) Something Classic Cafe, who has better and cheaper gourmet cupcakes.

How about a NY Deli in that spot? Or a reasonably-priced seafood market/butcher?

Anonymous said...

I expected this. Both are overly price.

Anonymous said...

Good riddance! They knew they were going head to head with the wildly successful Menchies and then they didn't even try. Such a sad generic looking place.

Hopefully whatever replaces it will address an unfilled niche.