October 26, 2026
Provided Image/Bryar's Yogurt Bar
Bryar's Yogurt Bar, an independently run shop with self-serve frozen yogurt and smoothies, will open 1050 N. Hancock St. in Northern Liberties in November.
A new self-serve frozen yogurt shop is headed to the Piazza in Northern Liberties next month, with the owner saying she hopes to ride a wave of the dessert's recent resurgence.
Byrar's Yogurt Bar, named after owner Britney Stein's son, will open around Thanksgiving at 1050 N. Hancock St. near the intersection of Germantown Avenue. The business will offer a rotating selection of 10 in-house flavors and more than 40 toppings to fill cups priced by weight. They'll also have high-protein smoothies.
"Philadelphia didn't have many self-serve operations, and I was studying a lot of the New York up-and-coming businesses," said Stein, who started selling frozen yogurt as a teenager at the Jersey Shore. "Frozen yogurt is super popular, and I decided to get back on the trend."
Frozen yogurt had its first wave of popularity in the 1980s. Then shops proliferated across the country from the mid-2000s up until around the COVID-19 pandemic. The first comeback was partly driven by demand for a lower-calorie alternative to ice cream, but the market eventually became oversaturated and health trends shifted.
Stein said one of the industry's biggest issues was a lack of originality in taste. New shops springing up in New York, Chicago and other cities have emphasized artisanal flavors and the benefits of probiotics, rather than promoting low fat as the main selling point.
"Back then, there was only one or two suppliers you could buy frozen yogurt from and then sell," Stein said. "It kind of all tasted the same. There was nothing really special about any of the shops. It went out because everyone did the same thing. The product itself needed more time to really evolve."
All of Bryar's frozen yogurt will be made in-house with natural flavor compounds sourced from a supplier. Beyond staples like classic vanilla and original Greek, the shop's initial menu will include pumpkin pecan, chai cheesecake, cookie batter, caramel pear crisp and a blood orange creamsicle flavor made with fresh-pressed orange juice. All of the shop's frozen yogurt will be gluten-free and several flavors will be nut-free. The shop also will have self-serve acai.
Bryar's Yogurt Bar will have rotating flavors and more than 40 toppings. All of the yogurt is gluten-free and several nut-free flavors will be available at the shop in Northern Liberties.
After Stein had her son in January, she and her husband felt the time was right to open a frozen yogurt shop in Philly. Stein took note of the successful shops that have opened in New York over the past two years, especially the self-serve spot Mimi's that has drawn long lines and expanded to three locations.
"The experience should never have went away," Stein said. "I guess the goal is to bring back the nostalgic feel of self-serve yogurt, which is very much an after-school snack with friends or your family. Everyone loved the feeling of it. Everyone loved the experience. It's just about coming out with a quality product."
Stein hopes to eventually open additional locations in the region. She said Northern Liberties felt like the perfect fit after touring a few storefronts. The business had already participated in neighborhood farmers markets to ramp up for an opening.
"We wanted this location so badly just because of how it felt like a community in Northern Liberties," Stein said.
