By Jasmine Bar and Sarah Allen

Finally, frozen yogurt, the healthier “ice cream” with many fun flavors has come to Pleasantville… not once, but twice! Yogolicious and Aunt B’s are both frozen yogurt shops located within two minutes of each other.

Contrary to popular belief, Yogolicious is not a chain. Cara, the manager of Yogolicious, told the story of how Yogolicious came to be. The owners of the store had four kids who absolutely loved frozen yogurt. Every time they went to different frozen yogurt places, they always had improvement ideas for a particular place. Eventually, the parents decided to open their own store, using the list of accumulated ideas.

Similarly, the owner of Aunt B’s, Barbara wanted to open a cafe or a bakery, but her nephew loved frozen yogurt so she opened Aunt B’s. said Gwen, an Aunt B’s employee. It got its name from Barbara’s nephew’s nickname for her her. Both were opened as a result of the popularity of frozen yogurt among kids.

Yogolicious has been open for about six months. In comparison, Aunt B’s has only been open for three months. However, there is another Aunt B’s location in Somers that has been open for a year.

Yogolicious has fifteen flavors of frozen yogurt in stock at all times. They also rotate through seventy toppings. Aunt B’s has twenty-four flavors and about seventy toppings as well. Both places have sets of three handles for each frozen yogurt machine, where the outside handles have separate flavors, and the middle handle combines the two flavors. Both shops also have gluten free and dairy free options. Yogolicious’ most popular frozen yogurt combinations are peanut butter with Oreo and cookies and cream with Oreo. The most common combination at Aunt B’s is cake batter with cookies and cream. The cost of frozen yogurt is forty-nine cents per ounce at both Yogolicious and Aunt B’s.

Both stores draw kids in with iPads, but who came up with the idea in the first place? It’s hard to say. Both Yogolicious and Aunt B’s have iPads to entertain their customers. Yogolicious claims that they had the idea of iPads first and other places copied them. Cara says that the owner wanted to give young kids something to do. Gwen from Aunt B’s says that the store in Somers had iPads, and they were also there to also give kids something to do. The iPads they were all filled with games in both stores. Both Yogolicious and Aunt B’s target all age groups, and they want their shops to be family friendly.

During the winter, both stores try to sell things other than frozen yogurt to stay in business. People might not be in the mood for cold frozen yogurt when the weather is cold. Yogolicious has a hot chocolate and coffee bar, hosts birthday parties, and has karaoke. It also offers pies and a variety of candy. Aunt B’s has an espresso bar and also offer birthday parties. Other goodies include waffles, smoothies, brownies, and cupcakes.

The atmospheres of the two shops are quite similar. They both have pink and green themes with bright accents and play popular music. Both shops are decorated for the month with Halloween themes. Yogolicious had cobwebs and ghost window stickers. Aunt B’s had many freaky skeletons and ghosts, fake gravestones, and even more Halloween accessories. Aunt B’s also offers a contest this season for the best Halloween costume. The winner will receive a $100 gift card to Aunt B’s. Both shops have five tables and window bars. Both generally have clean and sanitary bathrooms.

Clearly, these frozen yogurt places are very much alike. It cannot be said who copied whom or which place is better, but it is obvious that they are enjoyable and exciting places to be. Is one better than the other? It’s up to people to decide for themselves. Either way, these shops are still two wonderful places to hang out and get some refreshing frozen yogurt!