Union County's 1st Dirty Soda Shop Opens In Westfield

WESTFIELD, NJ — The "dirty soda" craze has arrived in Union County with the first location of Fizzy Pop opening in Westfield.

Chris Medina of Green Brook is opening his create-your-own style soda bar and hangout for smoothies, milkshakes, and more at 141 East Broad St. This is the former location of Claire's.

The new drink shop opens Friday with a ribbon-cutting at 11:30 a.m.

Medina said the shop was designed as an all-ages place where families, teens, and children would feel comfortable stopping in.

"I used to hang out in Westfield as a kid, and there's just nowhere for kids, really, to hang out," said Medina.

Medina decided to team up with his grandfather, Arnie Bollhardt, who previously owned Kids Village in Kenilworth, to open Fizzy Pop.

He's been an entrepreneur for like 50 years... So he's been doing all sorts of businesses all over the years. And him and I have always said one day we want to open up a business together," said Medina. "I would always bring him ideas, and he would be like, 'That's a good idea, but you can do better.' Or, 'That's a good idea, but it would be really hard for us to do that'. And this was the first one where he was like, "That sounds great.' So we're very excited," said Medina.

Dirty sodas are the main focus of the menu. The craze around dirty sodas rose to fame following the success of the Hulu television show Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.

Medina described the drinks as soda-based, including options such as Coke, Diet Coke, Mountain Dew, Fanta, root beer, Dr. Pepper, Sprite, and ginger ale, mixed with syrups, flavorings, and creams.

Customers can choose from house combinations or adjust ingredients to make their own drink.

"Pretty much every good drink you can think of," Medina said when asked what the shop will offer.

Everything is made to order, rather than prepared in advance, and customers can swap ingredients to suit their taste.

Beyond dirty sodas, the opening menu is expected to include smoothies, milkshakes, refreshers, dirty lemonades, dirty iced teas, dirty waters, and Red Bull-infused drinks.

The shop will also offer soft serve and hard ice cream at opening.

More items are planned in the coming months. Medina said food will be added in the near future, including snack items such as street corn, taquitos, and churros, while treats like cookies, cake pops, and Oreo pops are expected in the meantime.

Frozen drinks are planned for warmer weather, and hot chocolate drinks are planned for winter.

"I'm super excited, because this has taken a long time, and a lot of like planning," Medina said.

For more information on Fizzy Pop, visit fizzypopdirtysoda.com or instagram.com/fizzypopwestfield.

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