Local soda shop closes due to fire just before national T.V. premiere

GOSHEN, Ind. -- The South Side Soda Shop had to close their doors after a fire broke out early Thurs. morning in the apartment above the shop.

The Boyd family, owners of South Side Soda Shop in downtown Goshen, took to social media Thurs. to share about the fire, saying they will be closed until further notice.

Nick and Charity Boyd have owned the retro style diner since 1986, but the building has stood in the spot since 1910, so when the fire happened, Nicole Boyd Lehman, the daughter of the owners and a baker for the shop, said the community quickly showed support.

“You know right away, one of the first firemen on the scene is a good customer…the Goshen Mayor reached out to us, so it was horrifying at first but then very quickly we started to feel the love and support,” said Lehman.

The shop sustained both smoke and water damage, but Lehman said the doors won’t stay closed for long.

“Looking forward to moving forward, we believe we should probably be able to reopen within a month,” said Lehman.

This comes just a day before the shop will premiere on Food Network’s ‘Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives: Triple D Nation’.

That will be the second time South Side Soda Shop will be on the show, the first time in 2007 on the original ‘Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives’.

“We had a wonderful experience with that and last year they reached out to come back and film for ‘Triple D Nation’, which is a segment of the show where they go back and revisit restaurants that they’ve already previously visited to see how the show has impacted the restaurant,” said Lehman.

So when the Goshen Fire Department had to put out flames less than 72 hours from the second episode premiere, “It feels a little heartbreaking, but that does not, you know, put, that doesn’t take away from the hard work that my parents and our family have put in in the last 39 years,” said Lehman.

To view updates in the reopening process or to get information about job opportunities at South Side Soda Shop, click here