Sindelar (Image: CHS)

Theresa Sindelar moved from Omaha to Seattle just to set up a candy shop on Capitol Hill.

Retro soda and candy shop Rocket Fizz in the Hollywood Lofts retail space next to Dick’s Drive In, announced that it was coming to the neighborhood in March.

The franchise store part of a national chain of sweet spots first opened for business three weeks ago, and will have its grand opening on Capitol Hill Friday afternoon.

Sindelar says that she helped her brother with his Rocket Fizz shop in Lincoln, Nebraska, and it inspired her to open her own.

“It was just so fun to have happy customers every day – i just kind of fell in love with concept and found out Seattle didn’t have one yet, so he kind of helped me get it off the ground,” said Sindelar. “We figured Capitol Hill has a great vibe and a kinda fits in with our inventory.”

Shopping in Rocket Fizz (Image: CHS)

The grand opening from 4-6 PM Friday will be birthday themed in honor of the samples of Birthday Cake soda supplier Jones Soda will be distributing from their truck. Attendees can also expect kids’ games, coloring pages, free saltwater taffy, door prizes, and plenty of birthday decor.

While a candy shop’s grand opening might not be the most important news around the neighborhood, it does represent a filled retail space along Broadway in an area that bears watching for signs of an expected economic boost from the opening of Capitol Hill Station.

Sindelar said Seattle’s minimum wage law that requires that franchises be regulated like large companies when it comes to the phase-in to $15/hour isn’t an issue for her sweet business plan. “That’s not yet a concern for me, we still have a pretty small staff,” she said. “It does affect how many hours I work.”

The process of going on scouting trips for locations, tracking down a and leasing a space, renovating, and moving in took about a year, says Sindelar. So far, most of her customers have actually been adults buying gifts for friends, coworkers, or their children. The shop extended its hours until 10 PM on weekdays and 11 PM on weekends to accommodate and has tried to adjust its inventory accordingly.

“We’re making sure we’re stocking up on the ginger ale section and the root beers, which have been really popular, rather than some of the little kid stuff,” said Sindelar. The shop has about 400 flavors of soda right now; some other notable ones include ranch, buffalo, and San Francisco fog, which Sindelar says has sold out. She described it as “kind of citrusy, with a cream soda finish.”

Rocket Fizz is located at 125 Broadway E. You can learn more at facebook.com/RocketFizzSeattleWA/.