Saturday, September 13, 2008

Can an entire brand of soda really stay off the internet? in 2008?

Today we took a little trip to Owego (population 8,000), the bustling county seat of Tioga County (population 50,000). Owego is about half way between Binghamton and Ithaca, so- although it's the capital of a very rural farming region- it tends to feel a bit more like a cute Finger Lakes town than a burned-out industrial town.

Owego is a funny mix of really artsy boutique shops and throw-back stores straight out of 1952. My favorite is the J. J. Newberry's store- complete with teal facade and scripty-writing that you remember from your childhood.

Between lunch and browsing the great used book store and buying homemade fudge, we popped in to pick up a diet soda, but could not achieve that simple goal. How is that possible?? Because this Newberry's only sold something called "ADK" soda, in flavors like "cola" and "blue pop." Better yet? There was not a single diet soda in the entire store.



But the part of all this that really freaks me out is that I came home to dig up some info on this mysterious "ADK" brand of soda- and I can't find any information on it!!! It is possible that ADK is a product of Adirondack Beverages, but that is just speculation that even my crack-research skills cannot confirm or deny. What gives? Is it possible that this soda has escaped the information age? Has it been sitting in the storeroom of the Owego Newberry's since the 70s? I'm totally at a loss to explain it.

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, however, because this Newberry's also sells this most-fantastic-ever "rain bonnet," definitely not produced since 1962 (they must have really stocked up on this one, back in the day).



Actually, I'm trying to do some research now on J.J. Newberry's, the once-ubiquitous national chain of five-and-dime stores, and finding that the entire chain never have even merged onto the Information Superhighway. Were the chain's stores mostly closed by the early 1990s, and this is just a locally-owned store that never bothered to change the sign? Craziness. Time warp, for sure.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Think you were in a parallel universe. Couldn't even find adk soda here: www.bevnet.com which is usually the final authority.

Also, see what you can do about sending this person a cease and desist for falsely benefiting from a page hit every time I retardedly go to this page instead: http://fishouttawater.blogspot.com/

ELS said...

Some of you answers are here. Most of it is just a mystery.

ELS said...

Doh!

Try here.

Anonymous said...

Weis Grocery Market Pennsylvania recently Had Pallets Of ADK Soda. I bought Tropical Punch which was really great. Taste is a cross Between Hawaian Punch and Ginger Ale. I later purchased Grape which was also fine. The Cola seemed flat.

When I returned to stock up again most of the inventory was gone. The Weis store personnell said this was a one time deal. Sale price was 24oz bottles for 25cents. I am checking other Weis Grocery Stores Close By for more inventory.
Bev Pac Inc is also on the ADK 24oz bottle

Now i came across this blog on the web about ADK Soda Sept 2009