Owner's Responses to Questions Posted by Facebook Fans - Questions 26-56

(*This is the 2^nd part of a two-part blog post – the 1^st part can be found here)

For our daily contest on 12-16-10 during the 10 Days of Soda Giveaway, our Facebook fans were asked to leave a comment, questions, or suggestion for Chuck, the owner of Old 52. Chuck loved reading all of the comments and suggestions, and last week, he took some time out of his busy schedule to respond to the questions posed by our fans

Below you will find the original questions from our Facebook fans, along with Chuck’s responses (as prepared by Jess).

Question 26:  From Matthew Paruszkiewicz: “How many visitors a month would you say drop in because of what they saw online?”

Response:  It’s hard to say exactly, but I know that we do get a lot of new, first-time visitors every week.

Question 27:  From Justin Wilcox: “product suggestion diet jolt”

Response:  Thanks for the suggestion – I will check to see if any of our vendors carry it.

Question 28:  From Sam Hanes: “does Cherry Lemon Sundrop come in glass bottles?”

Response:  According to our sources, only regular SunDrop is bottled in glass bottles at this time. Sorry!

Question 29:  From Ralph Munoz: “whats your favorite soda?”

Response:  As I told Sherry Walker, my favorite sodas are NuGrape, SunCrest Orange (this is the only soda that I prefer to drink warm, not cold), Moxie Orange Cream, and Point Root Beer.

Question 30:   From Le Allen: “when did you decide to "retro fit" the store for its current status, and have you found inspiration anywhere for your store?”

Response:  Like I told Maria Harsh, after opening the general store as a service to the locals in Sabin, I decided to try to find a way to attract locals from the surrounding areas, so I brought in three flavors of glass-bottled soda (Dad’s Root Beer, Green River, and Bubble Up) and sold those off our counter. The response was great, so we started bringing in more and more retro items, and that’s when the retro theme started to dominate the store. As for inspiration, I like the impression of variety, and I want the store to have bold colors to make it eye-appealing and fun to look at. I like to keep bringing in new items and moving items around to keep the store fresh.

Question 31:  From Le Allen: “What is Chucks favorite retro item carried by Old 52”

Response:  The Fisher Price Music Box Record Player – I have had a lot of people tell me they use those records as Frisbees!

Question 32:  From Kristi Jacobson: “The apple beers I saw on your site last night looked delicious - does it taste anything like apple cider?”

Response:  Yes, somewhat. It tastes like an apple cider/ginger ale combination.

Question 33:  From Justin Wilcox: “whats on your christmas wish list”

Response:  Enjoying time with my family in Florida and a wireless printer for the iPad

Question 34:  From Lee Turpen: “can Old 52 be found retail in Indiana?”

Response:  The only brick-and-mortar store we have is in Sabin, Minnesota. We do sell all of our products online at shopOld52.com, and we would be happy to ship them to Indiana for you to enjoy.

Question 35:  From Jenilee Holbert: “I think there should be giftcards or gift certificates to buy online for those who live out of state. Also can you guys offer free shipping for people who spend a certain amount? Also I was wondering, where do you find the vintage soda?”

Response:  Thank you for the gift cards/certificates suggestion: we will look into whether that would be possible on our current website. As for free shipping, we are unable to offer that because of the expense of shipping such heavy items. If we decided to offer free shipping, we would have to raise the prices of the soda to cover the shipping cost, whereas the current system we use is fairer to the customer because it charges the customer based on the zip code the item is shipped to instead of charging a very high amount per item to everyone. In internet retail, there really is no such thing as “free shipping” because if a company is able to offer free shipping, it means their profit margins are already high enough to cover the cost of that shipping, meaning you are likely overpaying for that item. We would rather keep our prices lower and use accurate shipping costs based on the customer’s selections and shipping location. As far as finding the soda, as I told Tom Gould, we find new products based on peoples’ requests, internet searches, browsing blogs, and traveling and seeing other sodas. When someone requests a new soda, we search to see if the soda is being made, and, if it is, we try to find out if we are able to order some of the product for our store.

Question 36:  From Cori Dunn: “I am wondering about your take on why glass-bottled soda is so much more tasty than canned or plastic bottled soda.”

Response:  There are a few reasons I think it tastes so much better: it doesn’t taste like can, it has a longer shelf life so it tastes fresher, it’s usually made with cane sugar, and it has a nostalgic feel to it.

Question 37:  From Melissa Vosen: “do you have plans to open anymore stores?”

Response:  Not at the time: we actually get a lot of suggestions for cities to open a new location in, but for now we are happy staying in Sabin and having our online store.

Question 38:  From Heather Lorene Tharp: “How do you find everything!?!?!”  

Response:  As was told to Jenilee Holbert above in Question 35, we find new products based on peoples’ requests, internet searches, browsing blogs, and traveling and seeing other sodas. When someone requests a new soda, we search to see if the soda is being made, and, if it is, we try to find out if we are able to order some of the product for our store.

Question 39:  From Jeff Trombly: “When did you first try it [Moxie]? and did you like it at first?”

Response:  I first tried it when we brought it in to sell a few years ago. No, I do not care for it: I think it tastes like Vicks 44 cough syrup.

Question 40:  From Amanda Smith: “have you thought about having like a decade box or just a box of mixed candies and gum.”

Response:  Thank you for the suggestion – we have thought of making a mixed box like that, but then we came back to the idea that our customers seem to enjoy selecting their own mix of items. I will keep your suggestion in mind for the future.

Question 41:  From Gary Matthew F: “What is your fav. Brand of rootbeer? And why.”

Response:  Point Root Beer: we did a blind taste test of 39 root beers here in the office, and that one came out on top. It just has a great taste to it!

Question 42:  From Brenna Mjoness: “Do you carry Faygo in 3 liter bottles?”

Response:  No we do not because we specialize in glass-bottled sodas, and glass-bottled Faygo is only available in 12oz bottles.

Question 43:  From Justin Wilcox: “whats the next in the future for old 52 expansion etc ... another thought i had is t shirts and hats with old 52 logo or something like that or is that already already going on?”

Response:  For Old 52, we will continue to bring in new products based on customer recommendations and new products that become available through our vendors. We have sold Old 52 shirts in our Sabin store, and at the office we have been talking about possibly expanding that to our online store. We also currently offer Old 52 Bottle Opener Key Chains. Thank you for the suggestions.

Question 44:  From Sherri Tate Horton: “I would REALLY love to see one of your stores in south-western virginia.”

Response:   Thank you for your comments – as was told to Melissa Vosen above in Question 37, we get a lot of suggestions for cities to open a new location in, but for now we are happy staying in Sabin and having our online store.

Question 45:  From Michelle Marshawn Borgne: “Chuck, I really love all the on this day posts. They have been very enlightening to me. I also would love to have a store where I live. I'm in Michigan!”

Response:  (Note from Jess – I do the daily posts – thank you for the kind words about them!) As was told to Sherri Tate Horton in the previous question, we get a lot of suggestions for cities to open a new location in, but for now we are happy staying in Sabin and having our online store.

Question 46:  From Lance McDaniel: “any luck with getting more than the grape and pineapple sodas in stock from The Pop Shoppe?”

Response:  No luck yet – I have talked to our vendor, and they will let us know as soon as other flavors of Pop Shoppe become available. Sorry that we haven’t been able to bring those in yet!

Question 47:  From Bill Rushoe: “hey chuck do u drink alot of soda?”

Response:  I don’t think I drink too much, but I do make an effort to try new sodas when we get them in.

Question 48:  From Justin Wilcox: “do u have any words of wisdom that you live by”

Response:  ‘Love God’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’

Question 49:  From Alex Anderson: “when you first got into business what was your main goal? Did you have a Soda show in mind? Or did you have other businesses prior to Old 52?”

Response:  My main goal with Old 52 was to offer a service to the community. As was told to Shelley Thompson Wells, in addition to Old 52 (and before Old 52), I am the President of MAC’S Inc., which is the company of the MAC’S Hardware stores, 11 stores located across the tri-state area of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota. The corporate office for MAC’S is located in Moorhead, Minnesota, which is just a five minute drive from Old 52 in Sabin. As a resident of Sabin, I wanted to serve the community by opening the general store as a local source for groceries, hardware, etc., and the retro aspect of that evolved over time as a way to draw people from the surrounding areas to come visit Old 52 in Sabin. I did not have the retro soda in mind as a main draw when I started, but as more customer requests came in, it just kept growing until that became a focus for the store.

Question 50:  From Simone Trombone: “Do you have any word on when/if Jones Soda is coming out in 2 liter bottles?”

Response:  I have not heard this before about Jones coming out in 2 liters. We deal exclusively in glass-bottled soda, so those are the only Jones Sodas that I know about. Sorry I cannot help you out any more – perhaps you could contact the Jones Soda Company and ask them.

Question 51:  From Will Stilwell: “When are we going to see more Moxie?”

Response:  Right now!

Question 52:  From Kyle McClery: “Name some very retro colas!”

Response:  Double Cola has been made since 1933. Red Rock Cola – the Red Rock Company has been around since 1885. RC Cola has been made since 1905.

Question 53:  From Michelle Y. Green: “could you please clone yourself and open up a store in Washington, DC?”

Response:  It’s a good thought, but for now I think I’ll stick with just one of me. As I told Sherri Tate Horton above in Question 44, we get a lot of suggestions for cities to open a new location in, but for now we are happy staying in Sabin and having our online store.

Question 54:  From Adrianne Braun: “any way you could get Buffalo Rock Ginger Ale?”

Response:  Thank you for the suggestion – I have not heard of that one before, but I will check with our vendors to see if it is available.

Question 55:  From Tom Dolan: “The one thing I'd like to see for mail order is gift packs. It's hard to order several items that may come in a case or multiple quantities when you would like a 6 pk cola, candy bar of one type and a candy bar of another plus another singular item.”

Response:  Thank you for the suggestion. We do have soda sampler packs that make great gifts. Beyond those, each of our online items is sold as an individual (with the exception of penny candy, which is sold in small bundles) so that you can create your own gift pack. You can also include a free gift message by typing your message into the comments section of your order on shopOld52.com. We have found that our customers prefer to pick their own 6-pks of soda, so that is why we sell our bottles individually so that you can build the perfect 6-pk for whatever occasions you are shopping for. Since we do not manufacture the items ourselves, any gift pack we “create” would just be us picking out items and selling them as one single unit instead of letting you pick them individually. Instead, we want to allow you to pick the items, so that is why we even list our candy bars as individual items instead of selling them by the box as most companies do.

Question 56:  From Le Allen: “What about getting extra large glass bottles of coke? I think there a quart?”

Response:  I have not heard of a quart size bottle of Coke being produced anymore – there may be old glass bottles that come in that size. Our vendors only offer the 12oz or 8oz sizes of glass-bottled Coke. Sorry!

Once again, thank you all for questions, comments, and suggestions for Chuck during our 10 Days of Soda Giveaway contests!