Once the hottest ice cream chain in the country, Cold Stone is now just one step away from completely disappearing from Japan.

When Cold Stone arrived in Japan in 2005, it was a near-instant hit, with long lines of customers at just about every branch excitedly listening to the singing staff as they waited for their order. But the American ice cream chain’s popularity has ebbed and flowed in the years since, and it’s about to vanish from Tokyo entirely.

Next week, Cold Stone’s last remaining shop in Tokyo, located in the trendy Harajuku neighborhood, will be permanently closing. It’s a sad turn of events, seeing as how this location just opened in the summer of 2023 and was supposed to be a symbol of cautious optimism for the chain which was making a return to the Tokyo city center.

April 28 will be the last day for the Harajuku Cold Stone, after which the chain will be down to just two locations in all of Japan…but not for long. Cold Stone’s Sano Premium Outlet branch in the town of Sano, Tochigi Prefecture, is also in its last days, as it’s announced it’ll be closing on May 6. After that the one and only Cold Stone in all of Japan will be the Mitsui Outlet Park Jazz Dream Nagashima branch in Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, about an hour from Nagano. While not completely unimaginable, clawing back to nationwide success from such a low-prominence location is likely to be difficult, and so even the Kuwana Cold Stone may be operating on borrowed time.

No reason has been publicly given for the Harajuku store’s closure, but the bottom line when businesses close down generally boils down to “It’s not making enough money to continue.” That, then, raises the question of why Cold Stone is struggling in Japan. After all, it’s not like Japan doesn’t like ice cream, and Cold Stone’s woes aren’t an example of a foreign company unfamiliar with Japanese business practices, since Cold Stone Japan has been under the ownership and management of Tokyo-based Hotland, which runs the successful Gindaco takoyaki (octopus dumpling) chain, since 2014. Cold Stone has even made efforts to incorporate traditional local flavors like sakura mochi.

But it feels telling that Cold Stone’s style of ice cream contrasts dramatically with that of Baskin-Robbins, or “Thirty-one,” as the chain is called by its many, many fans in Japan. Baskin-Robbins has been the most successful ice cream chain in Japan for decades, and while their ice cream is sweet, Cold Stone’s is decidedly more saccharine, and richer too. Then there’s the fact that Cold Stone’s signature trait is how they mix all sorts of candies, cookie bits, fruit, nuts, and other extras into their ice cream, whereas Baskin-Robbins takes a more moderate approach to such additions (Pikachu-shaped cookies not withstanding).

Cold Stone’s weighty excess definitely helps the brand differentiate itself in Japan, and its initial success shows that a lot of people were intrigued enough by all the decadence to give it a try. However, it’s likely that for a lot of Japanese sweets fans, Cold Stone’s ice cream is a bit too much for them to make it part of their regular snack rotation. That problem probably gets compounded by the image that the mix-ins are as much a part of the Cold Stone experience as the cream, which arguably makes it feel like you have to be in the mood to eat two servings of dessert in order to try something new at Cold Stone.

But wait, if Cold Stone’s mix-ins are too much for ice cream fans in Japan, how do we explain the country’s enthusiastic love of parfaits? There are multiple aspects to consider, but the short answer is “chairs.”

Broadly speaking, Japan’s desserts are lower-calorie and more subtly flavored than American ones. That doesn’t mean that people in Japan don’t enjoy big, sweet desserts, but they’re more of an occasional indulgence kind of thing. By extension, that means that when sweets fans do indulge, they want it to feel like an occasion. Going to a comfortable cafe, ordering a parfait with a half-dozen or more ingredients, snapping pictures of it from just as many different angles, then leisurely eating it, savoring every bite, all while sitting and chatting with a friend or date, is many Japanese foodies’ image of a perfect afternoon.

However, Cold Stone’s business is heavily take-out oriented. Its stores have/had small interiors, sometimes consisting of little more than a counter to order at. Many had no eat-in space, and at those that did sometimes the only option was to stand while you ate, often in close proximity to the customer line and singing staff. At others you needed to hunt for somewhere to sit in the noisy communal seating section of a shopping mall food court. In other words, Cold Stone’s ice cream isn’t the sort of thing that most Japanese sweets fans want to regularly eat on the go or quickly, but Cold Stone’s store designs and ambiance aren’t conducive to relaxing and lingering.

Basically, it’s a chu to hampa situation, and one without a clear solution. Cold Stone shifting to a simpler, more straightforward style of ice cream runs the risk of the chain losing its identity, but reimagining itself as a sit-down dessert cafe might be much easier said than done since Japan has known Cold Stone as primarily a take-out place for 20 years now. Maybe Hotland will make the decision to pivot Cold Stone to a brand of frozen treats sold in supermarkets and convenience stores (something they’ve experimented with before), so that people can purchase them in residential areas and then eat them in the comfort of their homes. For now though, if you’re a fan in the Tokyo area, the time for one last Cold Stone run is now.

Location information
Cold Stone Creamery Harajuku Branch / コールドストーンクリーマリー原宿店
Tokyo-to Shibuya-ku Jinju-mae 6-6-6 Harajuku TS Building
東京都渋谷区神宮前6-6-6原宿TSビル
Open 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Website

Related: Cold Stone Japan location list
Source: Shibuya Keizai Shimbun
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