The Pop Shoppe
The Pop Shoppe is a soft drink retailer originating in 1969 at London, Ontario, Canada. The Pop Shoppe avoided using traditional retail channels, selling its pop through franchised outlets and its own stores in refillable bottles in 24-cartons.
Within three years, the company grew within the province to over 500 stores, and entered the United States in the following three years. Eventually, Pop Shoppe was selling 30 different flavours of pop throughout Canada and 12 American states. National Hockey League veteran Eddie Shack was the predominant spokesman for the brand.
Circa 1977, there were 26 original flavours distributed from the Indianapolis bottling plant: Cola, Cream Soda, Fruit Punch, Grape, Ginger Ale, Grapefruit, Lemon, Lemon-Lime, Lime Rickey, Orange, Pineapple, Root Beer, Strawberry, Tonic Water, Soda Water, Black Cherry, Cherry Cola, Diet Black Cherry, Diet Cherry Cola, Diet Cola, Diet Ginger Ale, Diet Grapefruit, Diet Lemon, Diet Orange, Diet Root Beer and Diet Strawberry.
In the early 1980s, sales slowed, largely blamed on competition from private label grocery store soft drink brands. The original company ceased operations in 1983 and its trademarks expired in 1993. A few small soft drink bottlers in the U.S. have at times sold pop using some of the millions of bottles and cases left abandoned by the closure; those were not related or authorized brands.
Burlington businessman Brian Alger re-established The Pop Shoppe brand in 2004.
By mid-2004, bottles of Pop Shoppe pop were sold through stores using conventional retail distribution, rather than company-owned outlets. They are also available in restaurants, such as the Smoke's Poutinerie chain.
Many of the original flavours returned, with a new marketing approach based on nostalgia. The glass bottles are of a new design and are no longer refillable. They are, however, refundable in provinces that operate province-run recycle centres. The Pop Shoppe uses reclaimed glass in the making of new bottles. The corporate headquarters of the new Pop Shoppe is in Burlington, Ontario.
The new Pop Shoppe flavours are Black Cherry, cola, cream soda, Grape, Lime Rickey (non-alcoholic), orange, pineapple and root beer. In 2009, The Pop Shoppe brought back the classic Stubby style bottle that was popular in Canada during the 1970s.
In 2012, The Pop Shoppe announced that they were replacing corn syrup with cane sugar in all of their beverages.[1]
References
- Paul-Mark Rendon, Marketing Magazine: "Popping down memory lane", Toronto: Rogers Media Inc., 27 September 2004
- brandchannel: "The Pop Shoppe - pops back" (12 December 2005)