On Saturday, Sept. 3, a new locally owned and operated self-serve frozen yogurt shop opened in Farmville. Within walking distance of the Longwood University campus, flip flops Self-Serve Frozen Yogurt not only brings in local business, but student and university business as well. With the abundance of hours, 10 different flavors and about 60 toppings to choose from, flip flops is already booked through the beginning of the 2012 academic year with college and team spirit nights.
One of the owners, Brian Eckert, and his wife visited other frozen yogurt places and saw it as a chance to bring it to Farmville. "We thought that it would be good for not only the local community but for the students, and seeing as there was nothing here, we thought, well, this would be a good opportunity," said Eckert. Self-serve frozen yogurt shops continue to open in the Richmond and Virginia Beach areas as their popularity grows.
"I've been in Farmville for 17 years and the fact that we opened up and there is still room for growth is exciting to me," said Eckert, referring to the soon to be open Sweet Frog Premium Frozen Yogurt shop in Midtown Square next year. Besides Dairy Queen and fast food restaurants, there are no ice cream or dessert shops in Farmville. "I thought this would be perfect for Farmville," he said, commenting on the fact that the town lacks not only an ice cream shop, but a healthier choice as well. "There wasn't anything on the healthy line and we thought this would be right up a lot of people's alley."
"I get a bunch of different flavors and add toppings; I love that they have fresh fruit," said junior Sarah Collins. The location offers toppings such as M&M's, cookie dough bites, and Sour Patch Kids, but they also have a selection of fruit to use for toppings as well. "It's still just as good as Sweet Frog," said Collins, who has eaten Sweet Frog back home. Collins gets flavors such as chocolate, vanilla and cake batter when she visits flip flops. Even though Sweet Frog is coming into town, Collins said she plans to visit both frozen yogurt shops.
"I think that the fact that somebody still thinks that there's a market to be part of is exciting to me and I think [Sweet Frog] coming to town is going to create a greater awareness," said Eckert speaking on behalf of flip flops' existence with the competition between the opening of Sweet Frog. Most of the marketing and advertising for flip flops is done through their Facebook page, where they encourage their some 1,200 fans to suggest their favorite flavors and toppings, as well as host a spirit night to promote a team or organization.
The Longwood University's Equestrian Team and a student group taking a trip to Uganda are examples of organizations that have sponsored spirit nights at flip flops. "When we opened it up through our Facebook page, we were booked through the end of the year in the first 48 hours," said Eckert.
Another way flip flops is creating awareness or publicity is by advertising to schools to use their frozen yogurt as an incentive program for students. They have also done some radio promotions with WVHL 92.9 FM in Farmville where free frozen yogurt was the winning prize. "We're trying to reward our fans and kind of release things through our Facebook page," said Eckert.
