If you think you can pop into a variety store and grab yourself a Popsicle, be prepared to go on a treasure hunt.

The old fashioned, two-stick Popsicle that was a cheap, go-to treat in hot weather for generations of kids is on the endangered list around here, and has nearly disappeared from variety and convenience stores.

If you’re lucky, you might find a chocolate or banana Popsicle. But you may have to hit several stores to find them.

As for flavours preferred by cool kids — orange, cherry and grape — forget about it. They have entirely disappeared from local variety stores and can only be purchased in boxes of 12 or more in grocery stores.

I made this dispiriting discovery last spring, when I had an urge for a Popsicle, went into variety store to get one and came away-empty handed.

It prompted a search that eventually led to an experiment: I went into at least 30 variety stores across Toronto, most of which had no Popsicles at all.

I also found that all of those stores were blessed with coolers that belong to Nestle or Breyers, which seem to have completely taken over the variety store frozen novelty business in these parts.

The venerable Popsicle brand name is now owned by Breyers, a subsidiary of Unilever, and has existed for upwards of 100 years.

When The Fixer was a boy, a Popsicle cost five cents, a cheap, frosty treat for kids like me. They were always the least costly confection in the cooler.

I was granted a weekly allowance of 25 cents, a princely sum at the time. On a sweltering Saturday (which seemed like every summer day in the Deep South of Ontario), two Lakey boys with allowance in hand set out to blow it at Reg Leatherdale’s variety store in Jarvis, Ont., near the shore of Lake Erie.

My younger brother bought five Popsicles with his quarter and sat down on the store steps to eat them all. Before he finished the second, the other three were in an advanced meltdown, prompting tears and regrets.

While the Breyers coolers were filled with treats labelled with the Popsicle brand name — a fine marketing ploy; everybody loves Popsicles — it turns out that Breyers no longer makes Popsicles.

Nestle produces chocolate and banana Popsicles sold for 99 cents under the Parlour brand name, but our search of local variety stores determined that less than half of the Nestle coolers were stocked with them.

Why only chocolate or banana, hardly at the top of anyone’s list? I asked Nestle why it doesn’t sell orange, grape or cherry. Its reply said only that it hasn’t made those flavours in many years.

I asked Breyers three times why it so readily trades on the Popsicle brand name to sell other frozen treats, but no longer makes two-stick Popsicles. I never got an answer.

Apparently, the Popsicle shortage caught the attention of pop singer Justin Bieber, who recently tweeted about it. Breyers responded by saying it would produce a limited batch to be sold only in U.S. grocery stores, if Bieber’s tweet got 100,000 retweets.

Bieber — a good Canadian boy — is right; it’s a shame that it’s so hard to find a Popsicle, one either side of the border.

But that doesn’t help kids who want to buy a Popsicle at the corner store, especially flavours other than chocolate or banana. Yuck. They’re out of luck.

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I think it’s fishy that Breyers sells many other treats under the Popsicle brand name, most of which cost $1.99, but no actual Popsicles, and have come up with a theory: There’s a lot more profit in frozen treats that cost double what a Popsicle sells for, so label them Popsicle but don’t sell them Popsicles.

The Fixer wants to hear from people who have also noticed a dearth of Popsicles in corner stores, and find out if they agree that Breyers may have quit the Popsicle business so it can sell kids pricier treats.

And please share your stories about slurping on Popsicles as a child.