This little shopping center on the corner has had, for a long time, a Chipotle, a Starbucks, a Baskin Robbins, a Radio Shack, and a boba place. It’s a good location–within walking distance from one college, and short driving distance from another.

Well, a year ago, the boba place sold, and a new frozen yogurt shop came in. It’s now a franchise, but it got its start in this little storefront. And it’s driving Baskin-Robbins wild. Yogurtland has a hip look, and a unique product–their yogurt is self-serve, fat-free, with interesting flavors, and with a huge variety of toppings available. It’s sold at a flat rate per ounce–and it’s absolutely delicious. It’s HUGELY popular, and it sucked all the business right away from Baskin-Robbins.

So what did B-R decide to do? They decided to add their own soft-serve ice cream.

Somehow, this isn’t working. Their same-old same-old soft serve, which is fattier AND more expensive than Yogurtland, and does not give the customers as many options.

Maybe it’s just me, but that seems like a colossally stupid move on B-R’s part. It certainly hasn’t brought them any more customers, as far as I can see; they usually have one or two people inside, while Yogurtland has a line out the door most evenings.

It seems like they would have served themselves better by stressing their regular ice cream, waffle cones, etc–the things that Yogurtland doesn’t offer.

I don’t expect that Baskin-Robbins franchise to be there much longer, unless they drastically change their message.