POPS: A nostalgic tribute

By Lillie-Beth Brinkman

Published: December 14, 2007

As you drive along State Highway 66 toward Arcadia east of Edmond, you can see in the distance that POPS is not your ordinary nostalgic tribute to another time … A time when Route 66 was known as the Mother Road across America. When soda fountains and milk shakes were the norm.

No, the 66-foot-tall pop bottle that lights up in all colors with LED displays each night is your first clue that POPS has its place squarely in the 21st century. Another one is the modern, sleek design with huge canopy cantilevers that jut out in front and shelves of soda pop bottles in all colors stacked floor-to-ceiling inside.

Seeing the menu at the restaurant gives away the secret that POPS is more than just a pit stop along the highway.

Yes, you’re eating dinner or breakfast in a gas station. And yes, you can get yummy hamburgers, corn dogs, nachos, chicken strips and chocolate shakes that will satisfy all ages.

However, you can also order a filet or ribeye cut from the high-quality, NoName Ranch beef. The chicken-fried steak comes perfectly seasoned, sitting on top of creamy mashed potatoes. The POPS house salad features sliced mushrooms, roma tomatoes, cajun walnuts, mandarin oranges, red onions and grilled chicken. You can also substitute salmon for the chicken.

There’s even a soup du jour and you can order from a selection of wines and beer with your meal.

All at a convenience store, where you can still buy Q-tips and potato chips on your way to your next destination.

“It’s a little bit of everything. Our menu is very diverse,” said Jessica Ockershauser, POPS marketing manager. “That’s what I’ve loved about it so far – the broad audience we’ve reached. It’s really something for everyone.”

Despite the cleverly designed merchandise and great food, what many people really come for is the soda pop – nearly 500 different choices of flavors – whether you like grape or orange or lemon or colas or fruit punch and more. For example, POPS has nearly 60 kinds of root beer alone, not counting root beer’s cousins like sarsaparilla, birch beer and ginger beer, all nonalcoholic.

Since it opened in August POPS has sold nearly 150,000 bottles of soda. And people are using the POPS six-pack carriers to take out their own combinations. “The vision for this was to pay an ode to the Mother Road but also look to the future,” Ockershauser said of the design that includes photos of a time gone by along with modern flat-panel televisions that show videos from the Oklahoma travel Web site, oklatravel.net. “We kind of wanted to mix the old with the new.”

Among all age groups and tastes, POPS is fast becoming an icon in its own time, even as it toasts another era. With Flathead Monster Cherry Soda. Or Cool Mountain Green Apple. Or Jones Berry Lemonade. Or Jackson Hole Snake River Sarsaparilla. Or …

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