Kevin Warnock

Root Beer

I drink soda in moderation — one serving every two days. I used to drink a lot of cheap Safeway brand soda that I bought on sale for USD $.88 per two liter bottle. I think part of my dramatic weight loss (190 pounds down to 165 pounds, and I’m 6’2”) over the last year may be attributed to cutting so far back on the soda.

In the last two years I’ve all but ceased consuming soda that contains high fructose corn syrup.

I happily pay extra at my favorite grocery store, Rainbow Grocery, for organic soda made with real cane sugar. I can taste the difference.

I only drink soda from the major soft drink brands about once a month, maybe at a movie theater or other venue where organic cane sugar soda isn’t sold.

Now that I’ve convinced myself that small soft drink brands produce a better product, I am thrilled to have found the following video produced by Galco’s Soda Pop Stop. This is a Los Angeles, California USA retail store that also sells over the Internet.

This is the most charming promotional store video that I’ve ever seen. It’s long yet worth watching all the way through.

You will learn something and be amazed at how diverse the soft drink market is. Some of these boutique bottlers have been at it since the 1800s.

According to the Soda Pop Stop website, the store itself has been around over 100 years. Here’s the text from their ‘About Us’ web page:

“Why Galco’s Soda Pop Stop? Because before there were shops, there were Stops!

The business began as a small Italian grocery store in Los Angeles, California. It has been family owned and operated for over one-hundred years. Although the focus of the store has changed to soda pop and beer from around the world (sorry folks we cannot ship beer!) we still maintain our Italian deli in the back of our retail store. We originally became known for our “Blockbuster” sandwiches which are made fresh daily.

The passion for soda began when John F. Nese was a child. His father’s best friend owned a soda pop bottling plant where John loved to visit in the 1950’s. At that time, he also spent his summers at Happy Camp. It was here that he would dream of how he could hook the natural, bubbling spring water, add syrup and siphon it to his elementary school’s drinking fountains. In 1995 John began increasing his assortment of sodas not only out of love, but also as a protest to some of the larger soda companies that were not offering him the same prices as his larger competitors. He figured why not support other small businesses such as his own?

It took a few years, but the idea finally caught on! People started journeying from far away places to get a look at the store with over 400 sodas. We were honored to appear on PBS’s “Visiting with Huell Howser” and the Food Channel’s “Unwrapped” series and German Televison (to name but three of our various television appearances). We have also appeared in Sunset Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, The LA Weekly, The Tokyo Times and various other newspaper features. He has also been a guest on the BBC and the Canadian Broadcasting System. Over the years, we have received letters, phone calls and e-mails from people relating their stories of where they were and what they were doing when they had their favorite soda for the very first time. John’s love of history and trivia extends to his sodas. People who visit the retail store are impressed with his ability to share an interesting fact about any soda of interest.”

Galco’s Soda Pop Stop store as of today has 345 ratings on Yelp, with an overall rating of 4.5 stars. That alone is an astonishing accomplishment, and the owner should be immensely proud.

I’d like to meet John Nese, the owner of Galco’s Soda Pop Stop. If Nese reads this, I invite him to friend me on Facebook here: Facebook.com/kevinlwarnock.

I invite all of my readers to friend me on Facebook.

Here’s the contact information for the Soda Pop Stop store:

Soda Pop Stop
5702 York Blvd
Los Angeles, California 90042 USA
(323) 255-7115
www.sodapopstop.com