“I loved going to work with my father when I was a little tiny kid because we didn’t have sodas in our refrigerator and I knew if I went to the shop, I’d get to have a soda with lunch,” says John Nese, the second generation Nese to own Galco’s Old World Grocery in Highland Park, Los Angeles. A neighborhood Italian grocery founded in 1897, the store now stocks soda exclusively — carrying over 750 varieties from independent brands, and drawing visitors from around the world.

Nese’s father’s first job was selling newspapers in front of the store as a kid; around twenty-five years later he returned to the same spot, but as partner. Business was good for a while and the family gained full ownership of the store, but by the early ‘90s, sales were hurting. “Chain stores took over the distribution channels and suddenly the prices for small groceries skyrocketed,” Nese says. “It was cheaper for us to go buy one can of tomatoes from a supermarket than buy in bulk.” Nese watched nervously as other independents went out of business one by one.

A turning point came when a Pepsi retailer visited the store. The salesman waltzed in promising the best price on a pallet of Pepsi, but Nese would only make $30 from the hundreds of sodas and he’d have to charge customers more than they’d pay at a chain store. When he said he wasn’t interested, the salesman just laughed and insisted that customers would demand Pepsi.