Friday, January 4, 2013

Emory Point Freezes Over ; Sweet Monkey Opening Soon

Cousins Properies has relented, it seems, and will allow for a yogurt operator to open in Emory Point.

Gainesville, Georgia-based Sweet Monkey Frozen Yogurt & Cupcakes plans to open at the new intown lifestyle center in April. Sweet Monkey at Emory Point will open in the "Point Building" alongside Bonefish Grill and the upcoming The General Muir.  The chain currently has three locations open with "multiple others" in the works.

I saw the company demonstrating their yogurt truck aka "Mobile Monkey" last year at the  IAAPA Expo (International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions) in Orlando.  I was amazed that for such a small company, and seemingly highly competitive market, the brand would pay the price to exhibit in the international show. 

The chain seems rather similar to other self serve yogurt concepts like Yoforia, Yogli Mogli and Menchies, but like Roswell-based Cloud 9, they too serve cupcakes in addition to FroYo.  Interestingly though, having only been around since the spring of 2011, "Sweet Monkey Frozen Yogurt & Cupcakes is currently the leading self-serve frozen yogurt chain in the Southeast", or so they say.

Atlanta-based Yoforia was previously linked to Emory Point but sources tell me that Cousins had made the decision to to limit what that called "fad" items like yogurt, cupcakes and popcorn. 

Atlanta-based Yogli Mogli has a location in nearby Emory Village while Encino, California-based Menchies has a location at Toco Hills and Red Mango is hanging on at Clairmont & North Decatur. 

What are your thoughts on Emory Point?  What restaurant opening are you most looking forward to?  What is your favorite intown spot for FroYo? Please share your thoughts below.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Atlantan99, what's going on at the North Druid Hills/Briarcliff Target?

The right side of the parking lot is filled with unidentified items/material which suggests that a major change or remodel is about to begin. Could this be related to the new "Fresh Grocery" section that other nearby Targets recently added? If so, what will be eliminated to make space for it? (This may warrant a new thread.)

AJ said...

As saturated as the market is with yogurt, I do think the location is a good one - across from the CDC and located right by the Gables apartments - and of course essentially being on Emory's campus. Yes, yogurt could be a fad, but frozen desserts (i.e. ice cream) are not fads, so if yogurt does die out, hopefully an ice cream place (Morelli's???) would eventually go in.

Anonymous said...

I guess in 2013 a "leader" can be defined as an operator with two open locations and an improper Facebook Page (individual account vs. a Fan/Brand page).

What a joke!

They'll go the same way as every other FroYo concept...

Anonymous said...

Screw FroYo, give me Gelato! There are not enough good gelato places in this city.

And my favorite FroYo place, Swirl in Brookhaven, just got shuttered, so I'm uninterested in a new one entering the city.

Anonymous said...

You mean there are not any good Gelato places in Atlanta. If you've had it please let me know where.

Carl said...

Amen! The only good gelato place was What's the Scoop, which Alon's shuttered, replaced by yet another chain offering tasteless garbage by the ounce. I wish all these froyo places would get sent back to the 70s where they belonged and that we could at least have some more decent ice cream places.

Atlantan99 said...

@Anon RE Target,

In line with Target's massive updates to all of its stores, the NDH store will be upgraded to what Target calls "Pfresh." This remodel will include the addition of fresh grocery products as well as other refrigerated and frozen foods. The Target will also be getting a Starbucks location. I'm told most work will be done at night and that the hope is to have everything done by early spring. As far as what be taken away or lost as a result of the grocery addition, I'm not sure but doubt it will be anything serious. I've visited the updated "Pfresh" stores near Northlake and in Buckhead and could not tell you what was taken away or moved to make way for the grocery.

As I mentioned in this earlier post, ( http://www.tonetoatl.com/2011/06/wal-mart-plans-store-for-where-else.html ) Target no longer builds new "Greatland" stores and it's possible the NDH store becomes simply a Target after the renovations.

Also, for more information on the Pfresh updates, please check out this article from Retailing Today -> http://retailingtoday.com/article/target-pfresh-remodeling-program-nears-completion

Thanks for your readership and comments.

Anonymous said...

Sweet Monkey is not a cookie cutter yogurt shop, with over 60 different flavors of yogurt and 32 different flavors of jumbo cupcakes all made on premises, and yogurt injected cupcakes! All I can say is WOW when you walk in to any of there locations. They even have the best coffee in town, what else could you ask for. A hip decor good music and great deserts sound like just what Emory points needs.

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