A new drink shop on Superior Avenue is serving up gummy sharks, graham cracker crumbs and movie nostalgia instead of alcohol, and it's already pulling repeat customers back through its doors. Reel Sips, a nonalcoholic dirty soda shop themed around films, opened Sept. 3 at 815 Superior Blvd. East in the heart of Downtown Cleveland.
Owner Cara DiBenedetto moved from Boston to Cleveland over the summer and sank her life savings into the shop after leaving a corporate office job behind, according to Cleveland.com. Before launching Reel Sips, she spent roughly a decade working in fan convention production alongside actor Brandon Routh, coordinating celebrity appearances and pop-culture events across the country, according to a Facebook post. That background shows up on the walls: signed photos and posters from celebrities line the shop, and a projector screen plays movies for customers who linger.
The shop occupies a storefront in the Superior Building, a 22-story, 265-foot Classical Revival skyscraper designed by Walker & Weeks and completed in 1922, according to Wikipedia. Originally known as the Cleveland Discount Building, the tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991, making Reel Sips one of the newer tenants inside one of the city's oldest high-rises.
The Drinks Behind the Nostalgia
DiBenedetto tested drink combinations with a group in Boston before settling on a signature lineup, aiming for a balance of soda, syrup, cream and a topping in each one, per the same account. The menu includes You're Going to Need a Bigger Boat, a Jaws-inspired Sprite drink with blue raspberry syrup, raspberry puree, sweet cream cold foam and a gummy shark, and I Carried a Watermelon, a Dirty Dancing-inspired drink built on Sprite, watermelon syrup, lime cold foam and watermelon gummy candy.
Other signature pours include Inconceivable, a Princess Bride-inspired Dr Pepper drink with salted caramel syrup, vanilla cold foam and salted caramel drizzle, and You're Killing Me Smalls, a Sandlot-inspired root beer drink topped with marshmallow drizzle, vanilla syrup, marshmallow cold foam and graham cracker crumbs. Customers can also build their own order, selecting from sodas, syrups, cream, cold foam, purees, boba, sprinkles and candy toppings, with cream being the ingredient that technically makes a drink a dirty soda. Reel Sips also offers almond and oat milk options, along with coffee, lemonade, sparkling water, cookies, brookies and puppy chow.
A Trend Rooted in Utah, Now Spreading Nationwide
The dirty soda trend started in Utah, where members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traditionally avoid alcohol and hot caffeinated drinks, according to Cleveland.com. The concept originated specifically through the drink chain Swig in St. George, Utah, in 2010, per Wikipedia, and it later spilled beyond Mormon communities after Hulu's The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives premiered in 2024, a show credited with expanding the trend's reach, per Cleveland.com.
The commercial stakes of that growth became clear in 2015, when Swig sued competitor Sodalicious in federal court over rights to the phrase “dirty soda,” a legal fight that dragged on for two years before settling out of court in 2017, according to KSL.com. The category has since become big business: customer visits to Swig grew 137.9% between February 2023 and February 2026 as the chain expanded past 160 locations across 16 states, according to foot traffic research firm Placer.ai, as reported by NACS. Industry estimates put the broader dirty soda niche at more than $70 million nationally by 2025, with gross profit margins on customizable fountain drinks reaching up to 80%, according to the Aromatech Group.
That growth has coincided with a broader sober-curious shift: consumer insights firm Circana reported in 2025 that 49% of U.S. adults planned to cut back on alcohol, with Gen Z and Millennial consumers driving demand for customizable, nonalcoholic indulgences, according to Circana. Even major manufacturers have taken notice; Keurig Dr Pepper rolled out limited-time flavors like Dr Pepper Creamy Coconut in 2025 and 2026 specifically designed to mimic dirty soda recipes, per NACS. Total U.S. off-premise sales of nonalcoholic beverages surpassed $1 billion by late 2025, with the category expanding at roughly 18% annually through 2028, according to retail tracking data from NielsenIQ cited by Avenor.
Building Community, One Punch Card at a Time
DiBenedetto has said she wants everybody to be able to enjoy something, and that goal has shaped how Reel Sips operates beyond the drink menu. The shop started a Reel Deal loyalty club using punch cards and maintains a community-events board, and it also serves as a Vinted drop-off location for the secondhand clothing marketplace. DiBenedetto told Cleveland.com she wants the shop to function as a community space, and specifically wants it to be a place where people do not feel lonely when they're there alone.
She also hopes to eventually create jobs for people seeking their first work experience, according to the same report. Customers have responded positively to the movie concept so far, and more than half of those who've visited have returned to try additional drinks, per Cleveland.com's account. DiBenedetto has navigated licensing, permits and inspections to get the shop open, and she's already planning ahead: next summer, she plans to add Dippin' Dots, floats and slushies to the lineup.
Hours Built Around Downtown's Rhythms
Reel Sips is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, with Sunday hours added on game days and possible Monday hours when there's no major sports event in town. That schedule lines up with foot traffic patterns in a downtown core that drew 39.5 million annual visitors and supports a daytime workforce of 116,500 alongside more than 21,000 residents, according to Downtown Cleveland, Inc.
The shop's reliance on walk-in traffic and local events puts it in a different lane than suburban drive-thru chains like Swig, which have expanded aggressively along highway corridors nationwide, per the NACS report. Independent urban shops like Reel Sips instead lean on foot traffic, pop-culture fandom and neighborhood programming, including Trucktober's food trucks, which Downtown Cleveland, Inc. has brought to nearby Public Square every Tuesday through Thursday this October to keep lunchtime retail humming along Superior Avenue.
