By By ERIN VER BERKMOES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - After 25 years, they are still going strong.
In October 1980, Bill Mitchell and his father, William Mitchell of South Bend, began a business located at the intersection of State Line Road and State Road 933.
The Pop Shop was born when they started selling eight packs of glass Pepsi returnable bottles at their store.
The Pop Shop is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month.
The store which is owned by Mitchell and his wife, Diane, offers pop, beer, tobacco products, lottery, milk and a few grocery items.
Mitchell explained that at the time a lot of people came to their business because they sold the returnable bottles.
Michigan didn't have returnable bottles at the time. People got into the habit of going down to the Pop Shop and purchasing the pop they need and getting credit for the empty ones. The store developed a huge following because they had an easy system of turning the bottles in and customers could get out of the store quickly.
Mitchell said at one time they had 1,000 square feet of space full of the old returnable bottles.
The next big product the store began to carry was tobacco products, when the taxes were raised.
Mitchell explained that one of the best parts about owning his business over the years is getting to see the familiar faces of the loyal regular customers who come into the store. It's even a case where now they are waiting on second generation customers.
Over the past 25 years Mitchell has developed philosophies. The first is that it is very important to present a family-type atmosphere and good customer service with the clerks.
The second is running the business for the benefit of the customers. If he can get a product at a good price he will then pass that same deal onto the customer. Mitchell stressed that anyone who comes into his store will be greeted by friendly staff and be given the best deal possible.
The Pop Shop may be an Indiana company, but they have a Niles heart. They do their banking in Niles, most of their staff is from Niles and they help out many charities and schools in Niles when they can.
The adopt -a -family program came out of the Pop Shop many years ago. One year an employee thought it would be great to gather donations at Christmas for needy families in the area.
Each year they place calls to local churches and organizations and gather a list of the families. During the 2004 holiday season, the Pop Shop was able to buy gifts and food for 25 local families, Mitchell added.