July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Kaup offers nostalgic treats
Old-time soda fountain has always been a dream
After moving Kaup Pharmacy across Butler Street a few years ago, owner Lorri Kaup followed through with a lifelong idea — to open an old fashion soda shop.
“I’ve always wanted to do a soda fountain in our small town,” said Kaup. “I think it brings back all of the nostalgia of going in a pharmacy.”
The pharmacy at 102 N. Wayne St., Fort Recovery, has been modeled to bring back the feel of the 1950s, with the refurbished soda fountain tucked in the back corner beside a row of greeting cards.
With a counter and booths embellished with chrome and vintage patterns, people can come to enjoy older delights such as ice cream sodas, malts and phosphates.
“It’s an attraction, and it’s a service,” said Judy Post, pharmacy technician, administrative assistant and unofficial manager of the fountain. “And it goes with the theme of the pharmacy. It just should be here.”
For Judy, the best part of the job isn’t the ice cream. It’s the people.
“It’s fun to work back here. When you work back here, and it’s people that are my age or older, they have so many stories,” said Post. “It’s not the serving of the ice creams and the soda so much as listening to them.”
Kaup sees Post as the perfect person for the job because her welcoming personality is something that customers are drawn to.
“You need people like that to be vibrant to attract the relationship building, and Judy’s perfect for it,” said Kaup.
The whole experience for Post has been a learning one since no one knew the first thing about making ice cream floats from a soda fountain. She quickly learned some of the best teachers are the customers.
“It’s been an interesting and learning experience,” said Kaup. “It’s fun when people come in and know more than we do about it, and sometimes we learn from the customer … people come in and they almost educate us.”
Post boasts of their ice cream sodas, which are made with syrup and soda water instead of already-made pop.
“If you’ve never had a root beer float with real syrup … it’s very, very good,” said Post. “It’s hard to explain it to people unless they try it.”
Being a teacher for younger patrons has also become a part of Post’s job as many have never been to a soda fountain or know what a real soda is.
“I would say with younger people, milkshakes are … more popular,” said Post. “We have to kind of train them or teach them what a soda is.”
The soda fountain has become a place of nostalgia for people in the community as a soda fountain used to be just down the street from the pharmacy’s location.
“They think it’s so neat. ‘I remember when’ is what they like to say,” said Post. “When they were a kid growing up in town down the street here … a drug store had a soda fountain … and people up town remember that.”
But ultimately, it doesn’t matter whether customers are coming to reminisce or to experience a soda for the first time, Post just wants everyone to enjoy the nostalgia of the experience.
“Our hope is that when people come in to fill their prescriptions, if they have a little extra time or they’re at the forts in town, that they’ll stop by and have an ice cream or a soda or a smoothie. We’d love to see more people come in and go back in time a little bit and enjoy the experience,” said Post.
Even those who may not be able to sit and spend time have the option of taking the product on the go.
“There was no such thing as carryout things years ago. That’s why the fountain became so popular because people sat and talked,” said Post. “Now we do a lot of carryouts because people want to take it and go, and that’s the difference between the 50s and now.”
Kaup’s happy with the way the fountain has been received and has plans for the future to promote it with a grand opening sometime next year.
“My vision is to attract tourists to Fort Recovery and give them the option of coming and getting a root beer float or a cherry coke or phosphate,” said Kaup. “I have plans to promote it more, and hopefully people will appreciate having the soda fountain when they realize how good a root beer float tastes when it’s made that way.”
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“I’ve always wanted to do a soda fountain in our small town,” said Kaup. “I think it brings back all of the nostalgia of going in a pharmacy.”
The pharmacy at 102 N. Wayne St., Fort Recovery, has been modeled to bring back the feel of the 1950s, with the refurbished soda fountain tucked in the back corner beside a row of greeting cards.
With a counter and booths embellished with chrome and vintage patterns, people can come to enjoy older delights such as ice cream sodas, malts and phosphates.
“It’s an attraction, and it’s a service,” said Judy Post, pharmacy technician, administrative assistant and unofficial manager of the fountain. “And it goes with the theme of the pharmacy. It just should be here.”
For Judy, the best part of the job isn’t the ice cream. It’s the people.
“It’s fun to work back here. When you work back here, and it’s people that are my age or older, they have so many stories,” said Post. “It’s not the serving of the ice creams and the soda so much as listening to them.”
Kaup sees Post as the perfect person for the job because her welcoming personality is something that customers are drawn to.
“You need people like that to be vibrant to attract the relationship building, and Judy’s perfect for it,” said Kaup.
The whole experience for Post has been a learning one since no one knew the first thing about making ice cream floats from a soda fountain. She quickly learned some of the best teachers are the customers.
“It’s been an interesting and learning experience,” said Kaup. “It’s fun when people come in and know more than we do about it, and sometimes we learn from the customer … people come in and they almost educate us.”
Post boasts of their ice cream sodas, which are made with syrup and soda water instead of already-made pop.
“If you’ve never had a root beer float with real syrup … it’s very, very good,” said Post. “It’s hard to explain it to people unless they try it.”
Being a teacher for younger patrons has also become a part of Post’s job as many have never been to a soda fountain or know what a real soda is.
“I would say with younger people, milkshakes are … more popular,” said Post. “We have to kind of train them or teach them what a soda is.”
The soda fountain has become a place of nostalgia for people in the community as a soda fountain used to be just down the street from the pharmacy’s location.
“They think it’s so neat. ‘I remember when’ is what they like to say,” said Post. “When they were a kid growing up in town down the street here … a drug store had a soda fountain … and people up town remember that.”
But ultimately, it doesn’t matter whether customers are coming to reminisce or to experience a soda for the first time, Post just wants everyone to enjoy the nostalgia of the experience.
“Our hope is that when people come in to fill their prescriptions, if they have a little extra time or they’re at the forts in town, that they’ll stop by and have an ice cream or a soda or a smoothie. We’d love to see more people come in and go back in time a little bit and enjoy the experience,” said Post.
Even those who may not be able to sit and spend time have the option of taking the product on the go.
“There was no such thing as carryout things years ago. That’s why the fountain became so popular because people sat and talked,” said Post. “Now we do a lot of carryouts because people want to take it and go, and that’s the difference between the 50s and now.”
Kaup’s happy with the way the fountain has been received and has plans for the future to promote it with a grand opening sometime next year.
“My vision is to attract tourists to Fort Recovery and give them the option of coming and getting a root beer float or a cherry coke or phosphate,” said Kaup. “I have plans to promote it more, and hopefully people will appreciate having the soda fountain when they realize how good a root beer float tastes when it’s made that way.”
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