Mitchell residents are going to have to look elsewhere to fill their frozen yogurt cravings.
The CherryBerry in Mitchell announced this week that it will be shutting its doors for good, due to lack of business, according to owner Bob Goossen.
The frozen yogurt restaurant offers 10 rotating frozen yogurt flavors with more than 50 toppings. Customers create their own mixture of yogurt and pay by the ounce.
The store, which is located at 820 E. Spruce St., opened in June 2012 and, in the last year, Goossen said he has seen a decline in business and a large lack of customers.
"We appreciate the customers we've had and it's just not something that you do lightly," Goossen said. "And it's something that we've considered for quite some time to continue or to close doors on. It just came to the point we had to make a decision."
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Goossen and his family also own the two CherryBerry locations in Sioux Falls and another location in Brookings - all of which are doing well, he said. The Goossen family also owned a CherryBerry in Sioux City, Iowa, but sold it about a year ago.
Goossen said he brought CherryBerry to Mitchell because it seemed like a good opportunity.
"At the time, we thought it would be a good, strong market," Goossen said. "CherryBerry was a new concept in this part of the country. In fact, we opened the first store in Sioux Falls. It was the first store of this type in the upper Midwest."
As to why the Mitchell location didn't do as well as others in the state, Goossen said he didn't know, but would guess that it was too small of a market.
To say farewell to the Mitchell CherryBerry, Goossen said the store will be having a special deal for customers to purchase 16-ounces for $4 on Saturday and Sunday.
The business announced the closing on its Facebook page saying that the deal this weekend will be to celebrate "the great years we have had serving up the best on the planet."
Other than people commenting on the post expressing disappointment, Goossen said he hasn't yet heard a lot of feedback from the Mitchell community on the announcement of its closing.
