Walls of glass-bottle soda, bins of penny candy and brands you last saw as a kid. These shops are the best places in the country to build a mixed six-pack of sodas you can't buy at the grocery store.
Alabama2 stops
Arizona4 stops
Oh Sweetie
★ 4.4 (318)A Route 66 sweet shop in Williams, gateway to the Grand Canyon.
Williams
Pop The Soda Shop
1999A Phoenix warehouse stocking hundreds of glass-bottle sodas.
Phoenix
Purple Penguin Candy Emporium
★ 4.9 (400)Tucson's nostalgia candy emporium with a soda cooler to match.
Tucson
Sweet Shoppe Candy Store
★ 4.5 (440)A Route 66 candy shop in downtown Flagstaff.
Flagstaff
California3 stops
Candy Heaven
★ 4.5 (1179)Old Sacramento's wall-to-wall bulk candy and glass-bottle sodas.
Sacramento
Galco's Old World Grocery
1955LA's legendary Soda Pop Stop, hundreds of bottles in a Highland Park grocery.
Los Angeles
Sacramento Sweets Co
★ 4.5 (182)A Gold Rush-era storefront making candy by hand in Old Sacramento.
Sacramento
Colorado2 stops
Florida2 stops
Georgia16 stops
Dillon Candy Company
★ 4.6 (60)Roadside candy factory on US-84 in Boston, Georgia.
Boston
Hansel & Gretel Candy Kitchen
★ 4.6 (850)Candy Store in Helen, rated 4.6 by locals.
Helen, GA
Holt's Sweet Shop
★ 4.5 (558)Waycross bakery and sweet shop that has fed the town for decades.
Waycross
Kilwins Ice Cream - Chocolate - Fudge
★ 4.6 (454)Traditional store selling chocolates, confections & fudge, as well as original recipe ice cream.
Alpharetta, GA
Pecan Jacks Ice Cream & Candy - West Midtown Atlanta
★ 4.9 (171)Ice Cream Shop in Atlanta, rated 4.9 by locals.
Atlanta, GA
Pips Candy and Crafted Sodas
★ 5 (22)Candy Store in Brunswick, rated 5 by locals.
Brunswick, GA
Plain Peanuts and General Store
★ 4.7 (209)Plains general store with peanut everything and an ice cream case.
Plains
Rocket Fizz
★ 4.6 (412)Retailer offering a huge selection of candy & bottled sodas in innovative flavors.
Marietta, GA
Rocket Fizz
★ 4.6 (398)Retailer offering a huge selection of candy & bottled sodas in innovative flavors.
Newnan, GA
Rocket Fizz Columbus
★ 4.7 (591)Retailer offering a huge selection of candy & bottled sodas in innovative flavors.
Columbus, GA
Rocket Fizz Cumming
Nostalgia shopHundreds of glass-bottle sodas and nostalgic candy under a ceiling of vintage tin signs.
Cumming, GA
Rocket Fizz Duluth
★ 4.8 (32)Wall-to-wall glass-bottle sodas on the Duluth square.
Duluth
Rocket Fizz Woodstock
★ 4.4 (60)Retailer offering a huge selection of candy & bottled sodas in innovative flavors.
Woodstock, GA
Savannah's Candy Kitchen
★ 4.6 (3459)River Street candy hall: pralines, taffy and an ice cream counter.
Savannah
Shuster's Candy & Creamery
★ 5 (108)Poplar Street sweets shop in downtown Macon.
Macon
Swint's Candy Company
★ 4.9 (272)Middle Georgia candy maker just off I-75 in Forsyth.
Forsyth
Massachusetts1 stop
Minnesota1 stop
Mississippi1 stop
New Hampshire1 stop
New York1 stop
Ohio2 stops
Sweeties Soda Shoppe
★ 4.5 (520)Cleveland's candy warehouse with a full soda shoppe and a wall of glass bottles.
Cleveland
Wittich's Candy Shop
1840America's oldest family-run candy store, pouring sodas since before the Civil War.
Circleville
Oklahoma1 stop
Pennsylvania1 stop
Texas2 stops
Washington1 stop
Good to know
- Why glass-bottle soda tastes different
- Most bottles on these shelves are made with cane sugar instead of corn syrup, and glass doesn't trade flavor with the liquid the way plastic and aluminum liners can. Regional bottlers also carbonate harder.
- What to look for
- Ask which sodas are bottled locally — that's the stuff you can't order online. Cheerwine, Ale-8-One, Blenheim, Squamscot and Boylan all travel poorly and taste best near home.