Rocket Fizz (Kalamazoo)

• 125 S. Kalamazoo Mall
• Kalamazoo, MI 49007
• (269) 888-2588
• Website

Candy and soda pop…..are there two better treats?   Candy for the kids.  Pop for me.  Sounds like a perfect combination.

This past Saturday, we went to Old Dog Tavern for the first time in quite a while on Saturday morning.  We always love the brunch and the children’s entertainment provided by Benjammin.   We’ve been so busy on Saturday’s that we just forgot about it, but while planning our weekend last week, J brought it up.

We did the brunch thing and the music thing then started to run a few errands.  Before heading back to the west side of town, J brought up the new candy shop downtown.  I can always use more Cola and the kids never say no to candy.

Rocket Fizz is a chain of candy stores based in California.  The Kalamazoo location opened up late last week and is one of three in Michigan.  There are locations in both Wyoming and Novi in addition to this one.  The Kalamazoo store is on the Kalamazoo Mall next to The Union where Plata y Oro once was.  

The shop is about 1300 square feet but they pack a lot in to that space.  The look is a retro candy shop with every space filled with pop, candy, and gag gifts.

There is a big bulk candy section along one of the walls with bags to fill.

You can mix and match these bins as you pay by the size of the bag, not the weight or individual piece.

As for the soda pop, which we’ll just call pop for the purpose of this blog and try not to get into a debate, it is scattered throughout the store.  There are some warm bottles on shelves……

…but there is also a large cooler with cold pop.  All told, there are about 500 different varieties.

We all kind of did our thing then met at the check-out to pay.  If it was up to him, B would have grabbed everything in the store but it was the giant lollipops that kept getting his attention.

We let him grab a smaller one of those and a ring pop.

L went for the gummies.   She got the Trolli Dip ‘n Crawlers which were gummy worms with blue sour sugar to dip them in.

Her second pick was also from Trolli.  The Strawberry Puffs are are a marshmallow and gummy combo with pink sugar on them.  The owner recommended them to her and she really liked them.

J did the bulk candy and got some taffy.  I believe this is their line of taffy but I don’t eat taffy so I couldn’t tell you for sure.

On the retro side of things we picked up two items.  One was the Nik-L-Nip that we both remember from our childhood.  These awful tasting wax bottles are filled with a small amount of sugar water and for some reason, they are so addicting.  It may be nostalgia, but…whatever.  They’re good.

We also picked up something for J’s mom.  We got the Candy Mega Button Sours which are something from her childhood.  They’re a little bigger but the same basic idea of a simpler candy from the past.

Now me.  With 500 pops to choose from it wasn’t going to be easy, but I narrowed it down to Cola since that’s what I really like.  I picked two bottles.  One was The Pop Shoppe.  They brand themselves as “Canada’s Original Soda Pop.”  The other one I picked was from Johnny Ryan in Niagra Falls.  Both were made with Cane Sugar and both were delicious.

Rocket Fizz is going to do well in Kalamazoo.  They have a great spot on the Kalamazoo Mall which will get people walking around downtown.  I work downtown so trying all 500 pops sounds like a good challenge to me.  Our kids are already asking to go back…which should surprise no one……