BROOKHAVEN — Mary’s Barbershop is no longer located at 333 Cherokee St. after 25 years of cutting hair there. A sign on the newly painted building states the shop had closed its Cleveland Street location and moved elsewhere. In its place, Sipps Custom Soda shop is working towards opening. 

Michael Falvey said his business partner Pam Smith and her mom Mary moved to Weeks Barbershop at 305 US Hwy. 51 South and will continue to cut hair there. Falvey said it was good timing for the Cherokee Street location to open up as they had looked to build on land in town or maybe set up in a parking lot of businesses. 

Adam Smith, Pam, Michael and Brandee Falvey have all been really good friends for a long time. They were thinking of businesses they could do in their retirement and talked over ideas. Brandee is from Idaho and soda shops are all over the place out there, Michael said. They are all natives of Brookhaven with the exception of Brandee. 

The first time Michael had a custom soda was in Idaho while visiting with his daughter. There was a blizzard but she wanted to try a mixed soda so they went and tried it. He loved it and thought about bringing the concept to Brookhaven. 

“On about every street corner they have one of these shops. It is a mixed soda shop like Swig or Fiiz. We said we ought to do that and looked into franchises but decided to do it on our own,” Michael said. “Our drinks will have names taken from the ’80s. It seems the ’80s have made a resurgence with kids. We will have pre made soda combinations but will cater to anything and offer some energy drinks, lemonades and flavored teas.” 

Sipps will be a drive-through establishment although could expand to inside seating in the future. They plan to have an app where people can order drinks, too. Michael said they are hoping to open by Labor Day. 

It will not be like a loaded tea shop. Most drinks will have sugar with exception of the sugar free or diet sodas and syrups. Muddy sodas are Sipps’ take on the Dirty Soda started out West. Dirty sodas are flavored drinks with fruits and creams added to them. There will be no alcohol added to them. 

Sipps will serve Italian cream sodas with fruit purees and lotus energy drinks. Customers will be able to pick between Coke, Dr Pepper and Pepsi products in 12, 16, 32 or 64 fluid ounces. 

Michael said they will work with local kids to possibly come up with drinks dedicated to each of the area schools so Loyd Star, Bogue Chitto, Enterprise, West Lincoln, Brookhaven High and Brookhaven Academy would have their own custom soda. One of their biggest goals is to give back to the community. 

“We want to give back and give the kids a place to work that is our hope,” Michael said. “We hope it will be a positive influence in Brookhaven and serve a good product at a good price. We just want to do something good for the community.” 

Growing businesses

Brookhaven businesses renewed or purchased 715 business licenses in 2022 and data from the City Clerk’s office shows the town could surpass 2022 licenses numbers. Six months into 2023, Brookhaven businesses bought or renewed 382 licenses from January 1 to June 30. 

April Willford of the City Clerk’s office reported 42 of the 382 licenses sold this year are new. Brookhaven sold 60 new business licenses in 2022.