Southport Forever Yogurt Falls Through... For Now

Residents hoping to snag some sweet frozen yogurt on Southport Avenue will have to wait a bit longer, as the company says a deal to open a store on the hot business corridor recently fell through.

Forever Yogurt Franchise CEO Mandy Calara says the company is opening two more locations in April at 2727 N. Clark Street and 818 W. Fullerton Ave. in Lincoln Park.

But the store at 3428 N. Southport Ave.—marked on its website as “Coming Soon”—didn’t work out.

“That deal we had actually fell through, but we’re trying hard to grab the next available space (on Southport) between Addison and Roscoe,” Calara said.

The Chicago-based company, headquartered at 215 W. Ohio St., is rapidly expanding, with more 90 locations marked as “Coming Soon” or “Seeking Space” on its website.

The space Forever Yogurt was eyeing isn’t vacant, but rented by Bell Studio, a gallery and custom-framing shop. The building’s owner Frank Campise confirmed talks to swap the gallery for a froyo joint are over.

“The (‘Coming Soon’ on their website) was obviously an oversight,” Campise said. “We’re not currently negotiating with them. We were talking with them previously, about a couple months ago, but it fell through. I have a feeling they had it on their website because they were pretty far down the path.”

Forever Yogurt has two other locations in Lake View, one at 931 W. Belmont Ave. and the other at 3510 N. Halsted St. in Boystown.

The movement on Southport from small businesses to national brands is heating up, with some local business owners saying they dislike the corridor shifting toward big-box retailers. Forever Yogurt is a franchised business operation.

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