Fro-yo outlet from NJ coming to long-empty Flatbush Avenue Barclays retail space

I had a brief yesterday in New York magazine's Grub Street blog, New Jersey Chain Let’s YO! Opening at Barclays Center!, explaining how Let's Yo! is beginning a long-promised NYC invasion with a Barclays Center exterior space.

The space, on Flatbush Avenue just east of Fifth Avenue next to Rocawear, should benefit from arena crowds. Inside, concessions offer Brooklyn's Blue Marble ice cream, not yogurt.

One commenter questioned the arena's commitment to Brooklyn vendors. Well, the vendors are inside, part of an outlet run by Levy Restaurants, not paying big bucks for an exterior retail space.

And the arena can't afford to be choosy: the retail slot has been empty (except for a brief pop-up Nike shop) since the arena opened last September. It's not like there's an aversion to national chains.

The fro-yo fever

There's no shortage of nearby fro-yo competition. Less than four blocks down Fifth Avenue, embedded in residential Park Slope, YogurBerry opened last May. (It still boasts a "Grand Opening" sign outside.)

On Fort Greene's Fulton Street, a few blocks north of the arena, Silver Spoon last year rebranded itself as a slice joint still slinging yogurt.

A bit farther away, on Park Slope's Seventh Avenue, last October Yogo Monster closed in the wake of a Pinkberry invasion.