Denver’s getting ready for a big freeze with the upcoming arrival of national frozen yogurt chains Pinkberry and Red Mango.
Pinkberry will open in early June at 1000 S. Colorado Blvd. in a new strip center where Tokyo Joe’s moved in as the first tenant. There are plans to open more than 15 additional stores over the next five to six years.
Red Mango is supposed to open its first Denver store this spring, with plans to add more than 20 locations in the region in the next three to five years.
Pinkberry franchisee Scott Adams has the rights to develop the Colorado market. The Denver Red Mango is a single-store purchased by franchisees Dayle Revious (formerly Cedars), a reporter at KMGH-Channel 7, and business partners Michele Melnick and Carrie Goff.
Calls to Red Mango weren’t returned Monday, so I can’t tell you where the first store will open. The company opened its first store in Los Angeles in 2007 and has nearly 60 locations in 14 states.
Pinkberry, which was founded in 2005, has roughly 80 stores primarily in Los Angeles and New York. The brand has created a cult following by devotees — including celebrities Ellen DeGeneres and Taylor Swift — who will wait in long lines for the tangy treat.
Having never had the pleasure of Pinkberry, I asked about it on my Facebook page, and people went nuts.
Tail tales.
Republican gubernatorial candidate and Dr. Dolittle impersonator Scott McInnis talked to the animals in a news release that knocks his Democratic opponent, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, on Friday — the night he opened his campaign headquarters.
McInnis faults Hickenlooper for not being able to make enough concessions in the city tax structure to keep Frontier and its animals here rather than moving to Indiana, headquarters of parent company Republic Airways.
The mayor, on the other hand, said he gave the company all the breaks he could, considering the budget shortfall.
My colleague Lynn Bartels posted Friday on her blog this fictional conversation cited in the news release between Larry the Lynx and Griswold (fact check, please. It’s Grizwald) the Bear:
“Hey Griswold did you pack everything? We need to leave for Indianapolis tonight. We’re not going to be able to make it to Hickenlooper’s headquarters opening party.”
“Yeah. I wish we still had a headquarters in Denver. But I guess opening a political headquarters is what really matters. We’ll probably miss a great party but we’re not wanted in Denver anymore. Man, Larry, I love Colorado. I was just perfecting my snowboard moves through the half pipe . . .”
“At least we have jobs, Griswold. A whole bunch of people we worked with here are probably going to lose their jobs. I sure wish that the mayor had listened to our new CEO when he told the paper that the local tax structure just isn’t competitive. But, he didn’t and we have to catch a flight to Indiana. What’s a Hoosier anyway?”
“That’s easy, Larry. They’re the people who are going to get the jobs that the people here in Denver are losing.”
EAVESDROPPING
A man to a woman:
“I’m going to the Beerdrinker of the Year finals at the Wynkoop.”
“I’m going to dim sum; want to join us after?”
“No, I’ll be dim by 2.”
Penny Parker’s column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Listen to her on the Caplis and Silverman radio show between 4 and 5 p.m. Fridays on KHOW-630 AM. Call her at 303-954-5224 or e-mail pparker@denverpost.com.
