Wednesday, January 21, 2015

[Updated] Did the Pinkberry close on St. Mark's Place?



Slum Goddess noticed that the FroYo hotspot was closed last evening during business hours... and looking suspiciously closed for good.

The storefront at 24 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue remains closed today... the phone goes unanswered... and they seem to be off of Seamless...



Strange timing for a closure... just days before the 10th anniversary they've been touting on the front window ... (this sign is gone too...)


[Photo by Slum Goddess]

H/T Jordy Trachtenberg

Updated 4:58

A reader noted that the windows have been covered with paper…



Updated 1-22

BoweryBoogie reports that the Pinkberry on Spring Street has also closed.

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shocking! Now there's only 24 other frozen yogurt places to go to in the East village.

NOTORIOUS said...

Obvs they ran out of hooves to serve the fro-yo in and had to close while they restock.

Giovanni said...

Must be from all the competition over at DF Mavens, boy are they packed with lines out the door, not!

Ever since the Pinkberry co-founder was sentenced to 7 years in jail for beating a homeless man with a tire iron things just haven't been the same.

Eden Bee said...

They were scared of the line of people about to camp out for the cheap fro-yo. The would have been the next woodstock.

Anonymous said...

Oh well, trends are cheap and don't last forever...

NOTORIOUS said...

I still prefer to get my fro-yo from 16 Funkyberry Yum Yum Bubble T 4 U!

pinhead said...

Damn! I used to go there to get my nuts wet. I mean wet nuts. I mean I never went there. Whatever. [I've been hacked!]

Anonymous said...

The name was obscene anyway.

- East Villager

Eden Bee said...

Art Garfunkel owns FunkyBerry. He is a shrewd business man.

John said...

Maybe they should have tried a Kickstarter.

Anonymous said...

I work in DUMBO and the Pinkberry location here on Front St is closed in the same manner. Could it be the same franchisee who ran into $ problems?

Seems like a strange coincidence..

Anonymous said...

We have reached Peak Yogurt.

Anonymous said...

the Pinkberry in DUMBO "closed for the weekend" and has pink construction paper in the windows as well.

NOTORIOUS said...

Just so long as the place on St Marks selling bagged slurry doesn't close...

Eden Bee said...

I fucking love slurry.

Anonymous said...

Looks the chain is having problems everywhere

http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2014/10/06/pinkberry-workers-claim-wage-theft/

Scuba Diva said...

24 Saint Mark's was the address of the late great Dojo restaurant.

Trixie said...

I saw a guy unloading chicken in front of Dojo once. One of them popped out of the box naked, no wrapping of any kind, just a box full of chickens. This one landed right in the wet gutter, and he just picked it up and put it back in the box. Didn't wipe it off or nothin'. Took it inside. And I never could bring myself to eat there again after that.

Anonymous said...

It did close. So did other three stores.

Anonymous said...

Its true they are closed. For good. The one in spring street too. So sad. But it is true. Closest one would be in union square now. Sucks. Some of the employees were really nice people. Hopefully they got to keep their jobs if not at least get their checks.

Anonymous said...

Trixie, if you saw the filthy, dirt, feces and urine-ridden conditions that chicken (and all other meat) pass through before they finally hit your plate, not only would you be a vegetarian, you might never want to eat anything again.

Anonymous said...

All 7 of the Pinkberry stores have closed down in the DC area, plus the one up at Yale closed down for not paying their employees, plus the ones in Murray Hill, the West Village and Chelsea are gone, but you can still get a 10 cent froyo if you can find one that's still open.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps an edgier fro-yo place will move in, something like 'blackberry" or "nose ring berry".

Ken from Ken's Kitchen said...

Guess we'll have to rule the scene somewhere else.

NOTORIOUS said...

@Eden I didn't see you at the #slurryrager the other night. It was pure madness!

Anonymous said...

Wooooooooo

Anonymous said...

This is all HIGHLY wierd. Or not. Ice crea/FroYo franchises usually tank. Coldstone was one of the great franchising disasters of last decade- corporate over saturated with low population density, leaving the folks with the franchise to drown. When I look on EBay for equipment it's loaded with Coldstone branded stuff... Barely used.

So, my guess: the franchise prospectus for PInkberry gave the impression that margins are amazing (and they are probably way better than ours, since we buy from our dairy in miniscule batches- all the PINKBERRY mix is made in zillion gallon lots) but February is suicide time for ice cream/FroYo bosses. The franchisees got together and decided to walk before February came around. I hope that they fucked corporate over really well and that they formed LLCs so that Pinkberry can't bring em down as individuals.

IzF said...

Hey Douglas Quint:
Coldstone was gross and so is/was Pinkberry. Have you ever eaten at either one? I have and their products taste inferior and yucky.
I have also have had your ice cream and it is wonderful, thank you! You can tell when someone puts love in to quality ingredients.

Anonymous said...

Thanks! We actually try, which is probably why it doesn't suck. :)

Coldstone and PInkberry- not a fan, but as we all know, places that unilaterally suck can thrive. For a while.

Eden Bee said...

So there is a huge conspiracy afoot where every Pinkberry® is shutting down at the same time? ALIENS ALIENS ALIENS.
Has anyone checked Mars for any new Pinkberry openings? Mars has slurry now they need FROZEN YOGURT TREATS.

NOTORIOUS said...

Their business started to slump when they ended the all-you-can-drink fro-yo brunches.

Slurry is the new fro-yo!

Anonymous said...

Sure is

Anonymous said...

This is shit is for the suburban babies the need corporate food to survive. Good riddance.

Anonymous said...

I trust the owner DOES NOT get a tax break for the space sitting there empty for a while. ("Hey, it would have rented for X billions dollars so . . . I need tax relief for X billion dollars.") OTOH, if we had retail rent control, I'd be okay with the owner getting some tax relief.