Whatever You Do, Don’t Let Your Kids See This Rocket Fizz Photo!
Decatur Metro | August 22, 2016 | 2:29 pm
Sorry, I can’t resist a click-bait headline every once in a while.
But seriously, be careful about taking your kids down Clairemont Ave past Rocket Fizz once it opens.
According to the sign on the door, it’s not quite open yet. But dang, it must be close.
They have one of these in Chattanooga and they’re pretty fun–retro candy and every kind of carbonated anything that’s ever been made in the world (they even had some like “ranch dressing soda”. Yeah…I know).
I think ranch dressing soda is the official signifier that mankind has come to the end of its useful time on Earth.
I’ve also been to the one in Chattanooga. Neat little place for a special treat, but Greene’s is so close… :/
Point taken, though I think there’s room for both (especially given that they’re on opposite sides of downtown). Rocket Fizz is kind of kitschy vintage pre-packaged candy and tons of crazy sodas. Greene’s is mostly house-made or specialty candy, toys, and ice cream along with a few grown up gift items.
Lord knows if we can support as many ice cream and yogurt joints as we do (think of the proximity of Yogurt Tap, Butter & Cream, and Jeni’s — and all do fine), this shouldn’t be a problem.
Actually, the plethora of ice cream and yogurt places don’t all do fine. We’ve seen a bunch disappear. Even kid-abundant Decatur is a tough place for ice cream/yogurt and toy competition. Coldstone Creamery, Ashford’s, a gelato place where Café Lily is, Tropical Smoothies, the yogurt place next to Jimmy John’s, Sno Ball or whatever that was called, Inner Child, Hoopla. Dairy Queen is its own special situation. The problem seems to be a cycle of too many of one type of store, then all start to fail, then we have nothing or close to nothing, then a whole new bunch crops up to fill the void but too many so the competition is tough…etc. Stores that do more than one thing, e.g Greene’s with candy, ice cream, alcohol, or Salon Red for Kids with toys on the side, seem to have a better chance of survival.
I just wish I got to pick which ones survive. Have I mentioned how incredible the homemade ice cream and fudge sauce are at Butter and Cream?
Yes, those are frozen dessert places that shuttered, but it doesn’t necessarily follow that all closed due to excessive competition. For instance, Sno Ball closed because the building owners preferred to combine that entire bottom floor for leasing to Mellow Mushroom. And some others (but not all) on that list, well… let’s just say putting out a consistent quality product is generally a prerequisite to ongoing business success. Some businesses are mismanaged. Some just never gain traction or fail to offer anything that sets them apart from the competition. The point is, I wouldn’t say all or even most of the businesses listed failed solely due the proximity of other similar options. Though I’m sure it played a role.
The three places I cited have been around a while, still draw large crowds, and have all managed to carve out a niche despite being half a block from one another.
I forgot a long-time favorite–Jake’s Ice Cream–it was the love of all Decatur children for a while. That was definitely a business failure due to corporate issues. The franchisees, the ice cream, and the facilities (paired with Little Shop of Stories!) were fantastic. The place was busy and popular as all heck. If I was a betting person, I’d bet that at least one of the current three ice cream/yogurt places will be closed within a year, just based on the pattern I’ve seen. But I hope I’m wrong and none of them are. And definitely not Butter and Cream which reminds me of hand-churned ice cream from my childhood. Let’s make a point of revisiting this in September, 2017. I’d love to be proven wrong.
Yeah, Jake’s is/was the poster child for corporate mismanagement of franchises in this ‘hood. Just have to say that name and people roll their eyes and shake their heads. And I think it’s because the ice cream was actually fantastic (As a Delta brat I still miss Delta Dawn — I think that was the name — the Irish creme flavored ice cream with Biscoff cookies in it, which pretty much nailed what a flavor for Delta should be). It was just run horribly.