Pop Brothers to Open on Main Street

A popular coast business that cut its teeth in Bay St. Louis will open a new location soon on Main Street in Old Town.  
- story by Lisa Monti, Lisa Monti's Notebook

111 Main Street, in the storefront between Bay Life and Biz-zee Bee, will be the latest location for Pop Brothers.

Pop Brothers, the makers of artisan ice popsicles, has found a new home on Main Street in Bay St. Louis. After a successful retail partnership with Cuz’s Seafood, the Pop Brothers owners will soon be settling into retail space they’ve been looking for. The spot at 111 Main Street Suite C was formerly occupied by Gourmet Galley.

“We are beginning work on Monday and hope to get the store open within a couple of weeks,” said Shannon Arzola, who owns Pop Brothers with her husband, Octavio Arzola, and her brother, Chuck Kelly.

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“We have been looking for a space for almost a year,” Arzola said. “We have been keeping a watchful eye out and we were so excited when this spot became available. We are very grateful to the owners of Cuz’s for selling our pops and now we are able to have the space to open a full store.”
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The new location will be like the ones in Gulfport and Ocean Springs. There will be seating inside at a long communal bench and near the front windows overlooking Main Street. Customers can try the 50-plus flavors always on hand plus have the option of dipping their pops in either dark or white chocolate or both.

The pops come in fruit, cream and indulgent categories, including fresh fruit pops, Oreo cheesecake and a few sugar-free options as well. They are all handcrafted in small batches with fresh herbs, fruit from all over the world and spices. The popsicles start at $3 and go to $5 for the indulgence creations.

Arzola said it’s fitting that the new store is opening on Main Street because Pop Brothers’ original customer base was in Bay St. Louis. The owners tested their icy treats on Second Saturdays in 2015, selling the popsicles out of a cart. “It’s where we realized our idea might work,” Arzola said. “It’s fate how this happened now.”

Things are looking up for Pop Brothers, which was recently featured on The Billion Dollar Buyer, the CNBC reality show, as well as the Cooking Channel series Beach Bites with Katie Lee. The owners just opened a store in Gulf Breeze, Fla., and the popsicles are sold in several locations in Texas as well as the Gulfport-Biloxi Airport, Stennis Space Center, the Golden Nugget Lake Charles and Murky Waters in Hattiesburg.

And that one cart that got the whole Pop Brothers venture off the ground at Second Saturday is available for rent along with several others. Arzola said they are popular for weddings, showers, corporate events, birthday parties and other occasions.
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For more information, contact Shannon Arzola at (205) 382-7123 or email shannon@popbrothers.com.

Read more stories by Lisa Monti on the blog Lisa Monti's Notebook.