The downtowns of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Pittston aren’t the only spots where local entrepreneurs are giving new businesses a shot.
On Wyoming Avenue in Wyoming, three unique businesses are among several startups over the past several months: Fizz Pop in Colonial Plaza at 908 Wyoming Ave., across from the Midway Shopping Center; Snow Blossom Tea Room at the corner of Wyoming and East Eighth Street in the old Wyoming Bank building; and Mike’s Hot Chicken, 295 Wyoming Ave.. No franchises here, as all three are sole proprietorships started by local men and women.
An innovative take on soda
Fizzi Pop Soda Company is the brainchild of Nicole Smith from Swoyersville, in partnership with her husband Nick.
She described their business this way: “It’s a mix-up of a few different ideas. Out west, dirty sodas are a rage. You see them on TikTok. So I took that idea and made it a little more fun by creating interesting recipes using different flavors, different toppings.”
So what is dirty soda?
“Take any soda, say Coca-Cola,” Smith said, “and add things like cherry, vanilla, and sweet creme and mix it up. So, the creme and the flavors are what make it dirty.”
Smith has plenty of experience working in restaurants and bars.
“I waited tables and tended bar in my younger years in my 20s and 30s. So I have experience with recipes and mixing,” she said.
Smith decided to go out on her own in February 2025.
“We found this spot and really liked it,” she said.
They turned two spaces in the plaza into one and started renovating, getting licensing, and installing equipment. It took five months to get ready for a soft opening in July. She added a drive-thru window and built a trailer to bring Fizz Pop to events. They did the Bloomsburg Fair and the Forty Fort Fall Fest, and some private events. They already have a lot of regular customers, some of whom are already waiting outside when she opens the doors.
The Texas Twist, a Dr. Pepper base with vanilla, sweet creme, and maraschino cherries, and the Blue Crush are two of the top sellers. Blue Crush, a mashup of Sprite and lemonade with blue raspberry, coconut, fresh lime, and maraschino cherries, is a hit with kids.
But those drinks are only the tip of the Fizzi iceberg. The extensive menu lists over 60 different drinks in categories like refreshers, creme, Booster Energy Drinks, and Build Your Own. The drinks are Smith’s own creations, and she is always looking for new flavors. She just added kiwi, dragon fruit, and lavender lemon.
“I love creations with ingredients that you wouldn’t think go together,” she said.
For example, take the Pineapple Dole Whip, with Sprite, pineapple, cupcake, coconut, and white chocolate sauce.
“Sounds weird, but collectively they taste really good,” she said.
Fizzi Pops start with a base of Coke, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew, Root Beer or Orange Fanta among others, add flavors from blackberry to watermelon, with dozens in between and topped with fruit purees or coconut and sweet cremes. Drinks sizes are 16, 24 or 32 ounces. She also serves cookies, cake pops and brownies.
Smith has 10 employees and expects to hire more for the summer. Fizzi Pop is open every day from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Learn more at fizzipop.com or search Fizzi Pop Soda Company on Facebook.
High tea with plenty of treats
Turning a classic 115-year-old bank building into the Snow Blossom Tea Room was a lot of work, but Shane Kreller and his wife, Brittany of Sweet Valley, were all about it.
Snow Blossom Tea Room is located at the corner of Wyoming Avenue and Eighth Street in Wyoming. SUBMITTED
They closed on the old Wyoming Bank building at the corner of the Avenue and East Eighth Street in Wyoming in May 2024.
“We found this spot, and we think it’s ideal,” Shane said.
After nearly two years of work, they opened for business in August 2025. They installed water lines and gas lines throughout and built a kitchen from scratch in the old offices in the back of the building, where they prepare soups, sandwiches and desserts to pair with the teas.
The Krellers describe their business as a British-style afternoon tea room. Shane said the idea was his wife’s.
“They are more common in the area of New Jersey where she’s from. I have a background in finance and insurance, so I never thought I would do something like this, but once she introduced me to it, it’s a very different kind of atmosphere and vibe, and it’s very relaxing,” he said.
Treats are served in tiers at Snow Blossom Tea Room. SUBMITTED
Tea selections include black teas, flavored black teas, flavored green teas, and caffeine-free teas, rooibos, honeybush, and herbal teas. In addition to the walk-in lunch service of Light Tea and Princess Tea combos, Snow Blossom’s afternoon tea menu features three tiers: Queen’s Tea, Buckingham Tea, and Windsor Tea, which include a pot of tea and select lunches and desserts.
“We have different tiers available,” Shane said. “For higher ones we ask customers to make reservations. They get quite a lot of things with the tiers, and it takes time in the kitchen.”
So far things have been going well.
“The community has been fantastic. Very supportive. We have quite a few people from the area who are regulars here, and people from out of the area. We had a group of ladies from Allentown,” he said.
The name Snow Blossom is from the middle names of Brittany and her sister Nicole, translated from Japanese.
Snow Blossom is open Wednesday through Sunday, with the first seating at 11 a.m. and the last at 1 p.m. for the tiers and walk-ins for lunch.
With 30-foot ceilings, ornate plaster moldings, and columns in the main lobby, the building is one of the best examples of period architecture on the West Side.
While renovating Shane said, “We wanted to keep as much character of the building as possible.”
That included preserving the beautiful, large-format Sue Hand murals. Hand, the well-known artist from Dallas, was commissioned to create the murals in 1983. A six-foot-wide and 17-foot-long mural depicts the Eight Street Bridge, the Swetland Homestead, and the Wyoming Monument. The other, six by14.5 feet, depicts the Harry E. Breaker in Swoyersville, which was demolished in 1995.
Hand said she painted the breaker from an elevated viewpoint across the back road. The murals are acrylic on stretched canvas.
Learn more at snowblossomtea.com, visit their page on Facebook, or call 570-613-2338.
A unique take on hot chicken
Hot Chicken is, well, hot. Three hot chicken-themed restaurants are open or planned in Wilkes-Barre Township and Wilkes-Barre. On Wyoming Avenue in Wyoming at Mike’s Hot Chicken, Mike Carannante is doing hot chicken a little differently.
Owner Mike Carannante stands inside Mike’s Hot Chicken. SUBMITTED
For one thing, he’s not a franchisee, as the Wilkes-Barre restaurants are. He’s an independent sole proprietor.
Carannante started renovating the storefront at 295 Wyoming Ave., most recently the site of the Royal Bake Shop, last May.
During renovations, he worked at home, “every night testing things out with the batter and sauces.”
All the sauces were all his own ideas.
When the hot chicken franchises popped up, he said, “That accelerated us to get the doors open quicker.”
They opened for the Super Bowl as a sort of trial run.
“We closed for a week or two after the Super Bowl to kind of fix things and get things situated,” he said.
He’s been open about six weeks now, and he’s busy.
“So far things are going great. It’s been kind of hectic. We started out ordering 300 buns a week. Now, we’re doing 600 to 1,200 a week,” he said. “That’s just sandwiches,” or MikeWiches as he calls them, “not including the bowls. We are feeding a lot of people. I didn’t expect this. We figured we’d be doing a few hundred sandwiches a week.”
Mike’s Hot Chicken is on Wyoming Avenue in Wyoming. SUBMITTED
Carannante comes from a family of pizza makers. His father owned Michele’s Pizza and Subs on the Y by Barber Ford for 20 years. Other relatives own Antonio’s and Angelo’s, but Carannante wanted to branch out.
“There are too many pizza places in the area. There’s pizza everywhere,” he said. “I thought, let’s do something different.”
He’s not just doing something different from pizza; he’s doing something different than the other hot chicken restaurants.
“Other places are using frozen chicken and pre-breaded chicken. I said no, we want to use fresh chicken, quality ingredients. We want to bread everything to order,” he said. “What sets us apart, too, is the oil we are using. It’s all fried in beef tallow.”
Carannante grew up in Exeter and later graduated from Dallas Area High School.
“I worked in a ton of kitchens. I saw how people did things. I wanted to do things my way and see how people like it,” he said.
Seems like they do. A menu favorite is a mac and cheese bowl with chicken on it. The extensive menu includes a variety of chicken and fish MikeWiches, bowls based on mac and cheese or fries, chicken wings, hot sticks, and more — Too much to list here.
For information, go to eatmikes.com, search Mike’s Hot Chicken on Facebook, or call 570-613-2335. Mike’s is open 11 a.m to 8 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.