Approximately 100 types of "gazoz," a type of sugar-based soda, is on sale at a small shop in Bursa's Setbaşı district. The shop was opened by two friends and takes customers on a nostalgic journey back to the 1970s.
The shop attracts quite a bit of attention from locals because of its unique offering of gazoz flavors from mint and pine air to coconut, lavender, coffee and cream. Ammar Yasir Güler, one of the owners of the business, said that they saw a gazoz shop in Istanbul with his partner Faruk Çakır and decided to put this idea in motion in Bursa. Güler said that they learned that all the gazoz sold in the shop were local products. “We used to have about a thousand gazoz producers in Turkey in the 1970s, but now this number has fallen to 50,” Güler said. “Seeing the shop in Istanbul, we thought, ‘Why should not we do this in Bursa?’ since the part that attracted us was the sale of local products in these shops. We wanted to be a part of it and opened our shop in September. We could have opened the shop in more central locations, but Setbaşı is a special and historical place for Bursa. So, this place was very reasonable for a start.” Güler noted that the shop has gazoz with different flavors supplied from Denizli, Niğde, Safranbolu, Istanbul, Eskişehir, Sakarya and many other cities around the country. “We have about 100 kinds of gazoz right here. There are many brands in the plain version, but fruit flavors are mostly sold. There are many different flavors of gazoz, such as cream, tamarind, tangerine, honeydew honey, gum mastic and saffron,” he said. Pointing to the interest from all age groups, Güler said that young generations do not know this culture much but the middle-aged and the elderly sometimes stop in front of the shop and watch the gazoz. Güler stressed that their customers thought that all gazoz came from the same factory. “Sometimes we sit down and chat with them. 'Is this Elvan really that Elvan?' they ask. They are surprised to have such variety, but in general, people leave this place quite happy,” he said, adding their customers relive the past at the gazoz shop.
“They experience nostalgia here,” he said. “You can also find a few of these brands in the stores, but they like to have them in this concept in a gazoz shop. They enjoy not only the gazoz but also the conversation. People in their 40s and 50s miss the flavored gazoz they drank in their childhood and then they find it here. In that sense, we receive good reactions from people.” Güler added that they sell gazoz at the price of TL 4 and offer nostalgic flavors such as chickpea powder and "kıstırma" (Turkish delight squeezed between two biscuits) to customers.
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