Why Atlantic Station is replacing Cold Stone Creamery with Yogli Mogli

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Photo courtesy of Cold Stone on Facebook

Development authority says the ice cream shop couldn’t keep up with high volume of movie goers.

Cold Stone Creamery is closing its Atlantic Station location.

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The ice cream shop will be replaced by Yogli Mogli, a self-serve frozen yogurt concept, according to Dotan Zuckerman, leasing manager for Atlantic Station.

Yogli Mogli secured a lease with the Midtown development Friday, Zuckerman told What Now Atlanta in a telephone interview.

According to Zuckerman, Cold Stone Creamery’s concept wasn’t suitable for handling the high volume of movie goers trying to patronize the ice cream shop after attending a film at the Regal Cinemas across the street.

“Guests would leave Regal Cinemas and rush Cold Stone Creamery,” Zuckerman said. “The ice cream shop never reached its full business potential in that space because of its concept.”

The Regal Cinemas at Atlantic Station does the most volume of business in the state of Georgia, according to Zuckerman. Since Cold Stone mixes its ingredients on the spot for guests, it wasn’t able to keep up with the growing lines after a movie let out, he said.

Atlantic Station hopes that Yogli Mogli, being a self-serve concept, will be able to support the large quantity of guests in search of a frozen treat after seeing a movie.

Yogli Mogli is the fourth tenant Zuckerman has signed on for the Midtown development since North American Properties hired him about three months ago.

Tasked with leasing space to local concepts and “first to market” boutiques and restaurants, Zuckerman has also secured space for Creative Loafing, Meehan’s Public House and Fab’rik Boutique.

“There is a long list of incredible concepts in the works for Atlantic Station,” Zuckerman said. “It will be the coolest destination in the southeast when North American Properties is done with it.”

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Caleb J. Spivak

Caleb J. Spivak

Caleb J. Spivak

Caleb J. Spivak

28 Responses

  1. Am I the only one who thinks the old American Eagle spot is not the right place for Fab’rik??? Seems like the old White House/Black Market space would have been better suited for it…

    The outside signage and the inside of the store looks like it was done on the CHEAP… doesn’t feel like a permanent store… bleh..

  2. I thought Pinkberry was planning to open in Atlantic Station. Has that been cancelled or are we going to see 2 fro-yo stores?

    1. hi chadk – thanks for your comment. originally, pinkberry was going to replace cold stone. after further consideration (reasons above) and community feedback, atlantic station decided to go with yogli mogli, according to zuckerman, the development’s leasing manager.

      –cjs

  3. Brilliant move! I know people think Atlanta is overflowing with fro-yo but you can’t deny the people what they want. It will be nice to go here rather than trying to find parking in va-hi.

  4. How could they choose Yogli Mogli over Pinkberry? Yogli Mogli tastes like every other self-serve fro yo shop that’s sprung up in the past year. Pinkberry may not be self-serve, but the product quality is so much higher.

  5. Agree with Steven. Actually surprised there aren’t more “another yogurt place” whining and complaining. But it’s a concept that should succeed in AS. As for people who want ice cream, Kilwins has a better product than ColdStone.

  6. All I want for Christmas is a way to suppress all stories relating to frozen yogurt and hamburguesas.

    Also, what in the he** is wrong with the captcha on this site? I know I’m not good at math but it errors out all the time.

  7. Atlantic Station has the potential to be a true live, work, and play destination for Atlantans. We all know Atlanta’s retail destinations are pathetic compared to any real city. There is no place that has blocks upon blocks of good retail in one destination. We have one sided single streets of retail shopping. Its great to see NA Properties has a vision of AS’s potential. NA Properties purchased AS for a third of the cost so they have room to negotiate with retailers, but more importantly get the right retailers in order to make it hip, relevant, and unique. I expect big things over the next few years (Yes is will take that long).

  8. I wonder if part of their “big plans” include development of the north and east areas that are obviously holes within the plan. I know that with the recent announcement of the Tennis Champoinships in ATL they are slated to place 2 tennis courts in the sunken lot are next to Dillards, but obviously these will be critical parts that should connect to the city as they are highly visible from the interstate as well as the northern parts of midtown.

  9. Does it strike anyone else of odd that the developer is playing such a major role in deciding what’s “right” or “wrong” for a particular spot? Kind of like the hand of God, in a way.

    Seems like supply and demand should dictate success or failure. If people don’t want to wait in line for Cold Stone, they won’t. And Cold Stone will go out of business.

    Call me old fashioned or too free market, I guess . . . .

  10. what a stupid reason to give for a closing…this is NOT the reason, obviously…if the workers aren’t fast enough, either train them better or hire new ones…simple…

  11. Kevin,

    Retail center landlords decide all the time who stays and who goes in their properties, regardless of the success of the business. If the owner decides that they want to take the mall in a new direction, they can renegotiate contracts or let leases expire and kick people out. Forcing them to keep tenants is the opposite of a free market.

    15 years ago there was a drug store and a McDonalds on the Peachtree front of Lenox Square; they were very successful. But the landlord wanted the mall to go high end, so out they went.

  12. Wow, the whole premise is bizarre: the ice cream shop is too busy so we are shutting it down and replacing it with something else. In other news, H&M is going gangbusters, so AS is replacing it with a muffler shop.

    The fact that the line is long is no surprise. I’ve been there numerous times and never seen an employee operate above half-speed. I’ve never seen more than three employees in there, either. Perhaps if they hired more and/or better employees, the line would move faster.

    The notion that a long line after movies is a bad thing is strange anyway. A lot of people are probably fine hanging out in line and talking about the movie, and long lines are generally considered a great marketing device (think Pink’s Hot Dogs in LA). Empty storefronts send a clear message: nobody comes here, and you shouldn’t either.

  13. So uhhh…when are leading Fox Sports Grill behind the barn? I thought that would have been one of the first places to go.

  14. dbot

    You kind of miss the point and then proceed to give perfect examples of why the landlord would want to change the experience of patrons of AS with respect to the ice cream shop.

  15. Stone Cold is a high margin low volume business. Yogli Mogli has smaller margins but can handle higher volume, meaning they might actually end up making a larger profit than Stone Cold. As for the landlord, they have reason to want those coming to Atlantic Station to be happy with their entire experience. Standing in line doesn’t sound like a lot of fun. While there will be some who preferred Stone Cold, the majority just want to grab something after the movie. The change will enhance their overall experience.

  16. i work(ed) at the cold stone in atlantic station and we weren’t even informed about this until today. merry christmas mr. zuckerman!

  17. I don’t understand what this sentence means: “The Regal Cinemas at Atlantic Station does the most volume of business in the state of Georgia, according to Zuckerman.”

    Can you explain that? Is it the most volume of Regal Cinemas in Georgia? Or movie theaters? Or some larger category of attractions or something?

  18. It’s not the employees fault that the line was constantly long. They moved really fast, well as fast as possible. Not to mention being short-staffed at times. It was poor management on the owners part. Not only that, employees were over-worked and underpaid. You may think, oh it’s only ice cream, but the job came with a lot more responsibility than that. Everyone there was a hardworking college student, mother, and citizen trying to take care of themselves, family etc. But thank you Atlantic Station for leaving these people unemployed in this economy, without giving them a fair warning.. Thank you corporate America for caring about the people, your consumers… Atlantic Station is not worth the prices or the visit.

  19. I love Cold Stone ice cream. But 100% of the time I have been to this Cold Stone location in Atlantic Station, I have come away disappointed.

    It had nothing to do with the lines or the time it would take from entering to getting ice cream.

    It had everything to do with consistently crappy customer experience. I’d compare my experience going to this location as being like the experience of going to the Department of Motor Vehicles. Mostly driven by an “I don’t give a crap” attitude from some employees.

    Inventory planning was a problem at this store, Many times I went, the store was out of stock on my favorite ice cream flavors and toppings. When all you do is serve premium priced ice cream and toppings, you better have a good inventory planning system or people aren’t going to get what they want – and be less likely to return.

    One time I went, their freezer was broken, resulting in no ice cream available… unless you wanted melted ice cream (wtf?); with signs about it on the front door that you had to see to believe. Like the bumper sticker says, “Stuff Happens”. Freezers break. But when all you sell is ice cream, you better have a back up plan for when the freezer breaks. And staff who can communicate with customers in a friendly way.

    The cherry on top (pun intended) was an interaction I saw between a woman who purported to be a Cold Stone manager and the store’s customers in June 2010. A family was about to walk in to the store at 9:55pm to get ice cream. This person very rudely turned the family away at the door, saying the store was closed. The father politely (and reasonably) asked why they couldn’t come in, even though the store was still open and didn’t close until 10pm. The manager was very belligerent in her response to the family. Their kids looked incredibly sad to be turned away from getting ice cream! One the most egregious examples of customer experience that I have seen. A case study in how not to generate delighted customers. Amazed at what I saw, I asked the manager why she didn’t allow them in while the store was open, and she gave me a “F-you” look. Wouldn’t give me her name. I haven’t been back since.

    Bottom line, if you’re in the service business, you have to give a crap about your customers, or you’re going to go out of business.

    I love Cold Stone ice cream. But good riddance to this franchise at Atlantic Station.

  20. Not that I want to defend any Landlords BUT the owner of ColdStone should have told his employees in advance rather than wait for the Landlord to do it.

    Furthermore, thank god the new owners have taken control of Atlantic Station and stopped the deterioratation of the property. In the long run, fixing Atlantic Station will create thousands of jobs and make Midtown a better place!!!

    Thanks You Atlantic Station!

  21. I always got good service at Cold Stone. The problem I think was the lay-out. The place is simply not big enough to support a post movie crowd. A bigger space and 2 more employees on week-ends would have fixed the problem. That said, their ice cream is nothing special. FroYo is the trend and the developers are smart to go with what is hot.

  22. The actual reason that Coldstone is closing is because they weren’t paying their rent. In fact, there aren’t a whole lot of stores in Atlantic Station that are not paying their rent which is why you are seeing the bigger retailers shutting their doors. By welcoming locally owned and operated boutiques and businesses to Atlantic Station and leasing prime locations to thoses businesses NAP is not only going to turn the property into an eminent shopping destination that is un-rivaled in the southeast but they will also be supporting the community.
    What Atlantic Station’s doing with the Steel Mill Shops ( all of the pop-up boutiques adjacent to Z gallerie) and the old American Eagle space and now ColdStone is, I’m my opinion, fantastic. The last thing Atlanta needs is another ColdStone or generic shopping mall store. Who knows, this might lead to Atlanta becoming a real city and not just a destination for rappers and rednecks.

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