BROOKHAVEN — Soda, conversation and laughter overflowed in downtown Brookhaven Wednesday. Sipps, a locally owned custom soda shop, celebrated a ribbon cutting Wednesday afternoon.

In July, Sipps confirmed they were opening a custom soda shop in the former Mary’s Barbershop on 333 West Cherokee Street. The shop officially opened in November after a few soft openings around Halloween.

Sipps lost one of the original four co-owners before the shop could open. Co-owner Michael Falvey died in August a few weeks before he had hoped for the shop to be open and operational on Labor Day. Other co-owners are Adam Smith, Pam Smith and Brandee Falvey. Pam said the ribbon cutting was purposefully planned for Dec. 13.

“This is Michael’s birthday and figured it was fitting to cut the ribbon today. It was one of his babies and we figured we would do it on his birthday,” Pam said. “We had to take a six week break when we lost Michael. We knew we had to finish it for him. He would have wanted us to.”