On the heels of Rocket Fizz soda shop opening in The Loop comes word that St. Charles is getting a carbonated beverage shop of its own.
Robert Palleja, owner of Di Olivas Oil & Vinegar, has announced he is opening a soda shop in historic St. Charles called Main Street Root Beer & Soda. The tiny store will be located on the second store at 617 S. Main St., directly above Palleja’s olive oil and vinegar shop. He hopes to have doors open by mid-June.
Main Street will debut with a stash of nearly 180 different root beers and sodas in glass bottles. Palleja said he hopes to increase the beverage inventory to 250 to 300 brands and make it a destination for area root beer and soda aficionados. Besides fizzy drinks, Main Street Root Beer & Soda will carry two dozen types of beef jerky, as well as other snacks. Palleja also hopes to offer root beer floats.
Palleja’s love for soda began in his own home. “I have been making my own soda for fun for the past eight years or so,” he said. “Then my wife and I went to a shop in California that had about 100 root beers and 300 different sodas and I said, ‘Hey, this belongs on Main Street.'”
This article appears in June 2014.