The soda and candy store Rocket Fizz at 1010 West Oak Street in Conway is relocating to Hot Springs after serving a unique candy-shopping experience to Conway for four years.
The Hot Springs store is already well-established with the business from traveling tourists. The Conway store will combine with this store, after it closed its doors in Conway on June 17.
“The owners just weren’t getting the return that they were looking for,” Rocket Fizz Employee Darrin McCoy said. “A lot of it had to do with the limited parking here in downtown Conway. There also isn’t much foot traffic with the weather.”
According to the Rocket Fizz website, the company was founded in 2007 by Robert Powells and Ryan Morgan when their “flagship” store opened in Camarillo, California in 2009.
The Conway-location store was opened on May 28, 2014.
According to the website, Rocket Fizz was established to bring a sense of nostalgia to older customers, and to give younger customers a unique experience with older candies and craft sodas.
As you walked in, you were welcomed by the classic rock music of past eras.
They offered unique drinks such as the Pickles Juice soda and Cookie Dough Bites soda, kept in the classic glass bottles. According to McCoy, many bought sodas just to keep the glass bottles and their unique labels.
They also offered a variety of taffies and candies such as actual candied scorpions.
For the less adventurous customer, they still carried the name-brand products such as Reese’s Cups and Sour Patch Kids.
Along with the sweet selection of candies, the store featured products from gag gifts to collectibles. The walls were surrounded with vintage concert posters from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s, tin posters of former stars such as Marilyn Monroe and the Beatles and vintage DC comics merchandise.
“It is really cool to see the various generations come in,” Employee Ellen Yehl said.“You have people in their 30s coming in and remembering when they were little and eating their favorite sucker. It’s also cool to see parents and grandparents bring their kids and grandkids and share that same experience with them.”
Though the Conway store is closing, McCoy believes the drive to the Hot Springs location is worth the experience.
“It’s all about the experience and taking you back in time for older candies and craft sodas that you can’t find elsewhere,” McCoy said.
The location in Hot Springs is at 718 Central Avenue.
