Mice on the loose in frozen yogurt store

(New York - WABC, June 18, 2007) (WABC) -- Mice invaded a trendy yogurt shop, Pinkberry, at 82nd Street and Second Avenue -- and Eyewitness News has the exclusive video.

The store has been open less than a year.

Eyewitness News reporter Kemberly Richardson caught up with the owner to find out what's being done to keep the rodents out.

Dan Morrissey runs Pinkberry and is now talking with us after we showed you exclusive video of the mice running wild in the 82nd Street location. He says workers at the popular yogurt shop have now buckled down and are doubling all cleaning efforts.

"Last night we had our exterminators come out. We re-cleaned again this morning after their visit ... Their going to be coming by twice a week now," Morriseey said.

Dan Coppens and his girlfriend were walking by the recently opened frozen yogurt spot around 2:30 a.m. Sunday morning. They spotted the mice and called Eyewitness News. The four-legged rascals were not shy about making repeat appearance.

"We walked back," said Dan Coppens. "We saw six or seven mice running around."

Morrissey says he's also now hired general contractors to look over the entire building. This is one of three Pinkberry locations in Manhattan, where news of the mice bothered some and didn't phase others.

"I was in the restaurant industry so there were mice everywhere so I'm kinda used to it," one person said.

But a former manager of Pinkberry, who wanted us to hide his identity, says this problem is much more than a few mice.

"I was actually at the 32nd Street location and saw them in broad daylight in Korea town ... a mouse ran right into the store," said "Jim."

He showed us photos of mice droppings covering food storage bins at the 82nd Street shop. He says when workers complained to supervisors, they were told to put down traps and clean up.

"They were asked to clean with bleach to cover the mouse area ... it was a huge problem and they just couldn't handle it," he said.

In fact, the Health Department says Pinkberry narrowly passed recent inspections. Officials did find mouse droppings and conditions conducive to pests at the 32nd Street store in March. The other two locations were cited for minor violations.

And because of this video, health inspectors plan to soon revisit this yogurt hot spot.

Late this afternoon, Pinkberry issued this statement saying "Since our store is regularly inspected and sanitized, we're shocked and puzzled by this footage. We're investigating thoroughly and have already re-sanitized all of our New York stores."

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