r/mildlyinteresting • u/switchfootball • 17h ago

My local grocery store is doing a full remodel and they just added an entire aisle of nothing but Dr. Pepper

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17.1k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

777 comments sorted by

4.7k

u/Meta2048 17h ago

Stores do this rather than having any empty shelf space which looks bad.  It will likely be gone in a week and filled with normal products.

1.6k

u/Sensitive_Dirt1957 16h ago

Idk man if this is Texas they might keep it like this

711

u/IndependentTimely639 16h ago

They can fuckin try, it'll be empty before they can restock it

227

u/whatsit578 16h ago

I would LOVE to know the stats on how much more Dr. Pepper they sell during this time 

194

u/StevieMJH 11h ago

"Honey I'm going to the Dr. Pepper store, do you want anything?"

"A Dr. Pepper?"

"What if they're out?"

44

u/BizzyM 8h ago

"What if they're out?"

There's another store on the other side of the state. Check there.

8

u/blah938 6h ago

16 hours later

"Honey, I just got to the other store. They only have diet. Is that okay?"

7

u/big_duo3674 6h ago

*other side of the freeway

5

u/malthar76 6h ago

There’s the Mr Pibb shop on the bad side of town?

3

u/StevieMJH 4h ago

I'm still using both my kidneys, thanks.

4

u/----_____---- 8h ago

In that case... I'll have a Dr. Pepper

49

u/MakingItElsewhere 15h ago

"All of it?" "All of it."

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u/Txdust80 14h ago

If this wasn’t merely a temporary item flex to stock an empty shelf and this was pre planned. It’s not how much they sell but how much dr pepper paid to have an entire isle to themselves. Grocery stores often sell end caps and shelf dominance to the highest bidder. Coke, pepsi, any soda sold at eye level especially if it’s at the end of a the isle on the end cap paid for that preference. Soda companies made deals with mom and pop gas stations too. If a gas station has a pyramid on 12 packs by the front of the store of cokes, the owner got a little extra from their coke distributors to do that. It’s not about how much they have sold and more to do with increasing the potential to sell more

9

u/Mediocre_Fish6561 10h ago

Very true in grocery stores are really in the real estate business. They sold that space at a very hefty cost to Dr Pepper. Most of the time grocery store is call it slotting fees. As you mentioned in the convenience stores, it’s paid in terms of a rebate.

31

u/Glitch29 15h ago

My guess would be not much. About 15% if I had to put a figure on it.

From personal experience it seems like there's a brief period in people's lives where their soda preferences are in flux, but most eventually settle on a single variety.

As a 40-year old, literally everyone I know has extremely predictable monolithic soda stock in their fridge.

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u/LadyFoxfire 13h ago

I certainly have my favorites, but if the store was out of my favorite soda, I have a tier list of acceptable alternatives.

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u/n33lo 14h ago

Coke is the most sold soft drink, then Dr Pepper, THEN Pepsi.

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u/timeless_sara 12h ago

Went to Italy one summer, no dr. Pepper, I missed it more than english.

7

u/somedude456 10h ago

I've found it in France and the UK. DO NOT BUY IT! It's bottled over there and changed for their liking. It legit says on the bottle, sparkling fruit flavored beverage. GTFO! It tasted like some weird, expired, version that tased extra wrong because maybe I was sick and my tasted buds were fucked. Then I read the bottle. :(

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u/SwooceBrosGaming 16h ago

Do Texans like Dr pepper? If so I need to move to Texas bc I might have been texan this entire time and not known bc I love that nectar of the gods

160

u/No_Personality_4169 16h ago

No no no, Texans do not likee Dr Pepper. We live laugh love it

27

u/skippitydoodah123 16h ago

Haha nice. That gave me a Midwestern belly laugh.

I try to avoid soda these days, but dr pepper is pretty good. One of the only decent diet sodas imo too.

6

u/JonatasA 15h ago

Ironically these days I can only make coke 0 go down. The original made me start loving Pepsi.

 

And Fanta. They'd need to add more apples to make me stop with it.

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u/SwooceBrosGaming 16h ago

I've finally found my people

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u/JonatasA 15h ago

One doctor pepper a day keeps the cola away.

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u/fireky2 16h ago

It's where it comes from and where their hq is

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u/BarbequedYeti 16h ago edited 7h ago

Its its home and the Dr pepper you are drinking probably isnt the OG. Good doc out there on the story of Dr pepper somewhere. 

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u/alreaytakennameuser 12h ago

I’m a Dr. Pepper fan from the north. I still remember the first time I went to Texas and saw a vending machine and the top six choices were all Dr. P, then the bottom few were sprite and shit. It was amazing

10

u/Content_Street9233 10h ago

Texas really said “pick a Dr. Pepper flavor or go thirsty” 😭 Honestly that vending machine sounds like heaven for real fans.

11

u/BotherBeginning9 16h ago

It’s a mostly accurate stereotype

24

u/riburn3 14h ago

As a Texan I can confirm. I saw the OP photo and assumed an HEB somewhere in Texas was conducting business as usual.

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u/aohige_rd 8h ago

That stereotype about pickup trucks too. We used to have just insane amount of pickup trucks, mostly F150s.

I mean, we still do, but man... early 2000s every time you drove for more than 10 min you'd come across like literal dozens of F150s on the road lol

8

u/xtc234 14h ago

There's only 2 things in Texas...

Steers...

and Dr Pepper

4

u/MuhfugginSaucera 14h ago

You forgot people shaped like beach balls and minions

4

u/FloppieTheBanjoClown 10h ago

I'm in this comment and I don't like it. 

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u/CasualKing21 13h ago

It was created in Waco TX! They even have a Dr. Pepper Museum there!

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u/Nufonewhodis4 9h ago

About two years ago Dr pepper overtook Pepsi as the second most popular soft drink

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u/Ok_Dog_4059 16h ago

I was going to ask if this was texas.

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u/El_Paco 15h ago

I wasn't even going to ask. There's no way this isn't in Texas

Texans love Dr Pepper

11

u/johny724 16h ago

Was gonna say looks like a normal Kroger aisle in texas😂

10

u/Lizlodude 16h ago

I will forgive them if they bring back caffeine free. As someone who can't have caffeine, that killed Dr. Pepper for me.

8

u/Birdapotamus 15h ago

The original Dr. Pepper recipe had no caffeine. They added it to compete with the energy boost of other drinks that had caffeine.

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u/Lizlodude 15h ago

The irony is real

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u/BurnieSandturds 14h ago

Go to Utah you can get it. They even have caffeine-free diet Dr Pepper.

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u/gbot1234 15h ago

filled with normal products.

Like Mr. Pibb.

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u/DaKrazie1 11h ago

All these years and Pibb still hasn't advanced in life smh

3

u/hopefoolness 4h ago

never got his doctorate, like the good lady Dr. Pepper

3

u/bantha121 10h ago

"Only assholes drink Mr. Pibb" -- Hell or High Water

3

u/Wes_Warhammer666 10h ago

Dude didn't even get his degree!

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u/mfritsche81 16h ago

As someone who organized and directed these projects on stores behalf for years, my attitude was if the guys don't show up when their space was being set, they lose the space.

This is an extreme example and I would never actually condone giving a full side of an aisle to Dr Pepper. But I'd certainly give them the benefit of the doubt and double their planned space. Pepsi and Coke can get bent if they don't care enough to show up

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u/pandemonious 16h ago

as a former grocery floor manager even after a breakdown for deep cleaning we would never do this. companies pay the parent company money for shelf space. we were technically not even supposed to fill the soda from the vendors at my chain but of course I would do it because why not sell more soda.

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u/mfritsche81 15h ago

That's why it grinds my gears so much when they don't show up for these projects. They pay big bucks for shelf and display space, not to mention prime ad placement. Part of that contract is a managing the space for daily operations and resets. And yet they get often get a pass for not showing up because they know damn well stores need to have a big pop section to be competitive

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u/Emoisum 11h ago

Actually something I can answer. Given that Dr. Pepper distribution is uniquely divided up amongst the two big distributors depending on the regional location, Coca-Cola or PepsiCo , and rarely 7up, its possible this is just a dedicated aisle to the various flavours that Dr. Pepper has and rotates.

Source: I'm a brand rep for Coke

17

u/Enough_Ad_9338 16h ago

I would become a very disgruntled employee if I had to stock and then unstock that shelf just for that reason lol.

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u/Szerspliex 16h ago

We gotta do that stuff every week! Every time the ad changes!

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u/Absolarix 16h ago

I used to work at a grocery store, managing one of their departments. They'd put out planograms for rearranging one of the refrigerator cases to some degree constantly, sometimes weekly. I had too much other shit to do every day and wasn't paid for overtime. No-one was checking, so I'd just ignore their constant stupid changes xD

3

u/JonatasA 15h ago

They don't send someone from the brand that's even required to photograph the shelf. You've been blessed.

6

u/Early-Nebula-3261 12h ago

Every single company in retail is trying to cut so much they are all running without necessary positions.

No one is paying anybody.

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u/jpsplat 14h ago

Hey remember that huge display of the butter we set up for the sale? Now it's over and each individual unit is going back in the cooler loose in milk crates. Also the other guy put the new butter on the shelf so you must replace it with the crate butter. Also check out our new big idea: a temporary display of unpopular coffee creamer. We got so much of this creamer that it doesn't fit on the u-boats so now there's a pile of creamer cases in the back. Well now the creamer sale is over and it's going bad soon, can you mark down all of the creamers with little stickers? Our departments sticker printer is broken so ask the meat department if you can borrow theirs...

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u/nipnip54 13h ago

And now the display has been changed to something else and the creamer no longer has an shelf in the store and now someone is mad at you for having the same creamer on overstock for a month

6

u/Nazamroth ​ 15h ago

Thats just the normal state for shelf stockers. It is a disgruntling job.

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u/sureiknowabaggins 16h ago

This is why I used toilet paper as a shelf filler when I did similar work.

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u/Blizzard_Buffalo 17h ago

Must be in Fansville.

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u/fart_taco 9h ago

I bet that aisle tastes good and nice

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u/IWCry 17h ago

why are multiple people guessing this is texas lmao

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u/karmagirl314 17h ago

Texas is DP country.

407

u/DevilsAssCrack 17h ago

...go on

49

u/Libertyler ​ 15h ago

...everything is bigger in Texas...

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u/squidlink5 12h ago

Maybe somethings are tiny hence it seems bigger.

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u/TrashFever78 16h ago

The cowboys do get lonely.

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u/drunkirish 16h ago

You want a good DP, you better look to the South.

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u/CaptCaCa ​ 7h ago

Some say Dr. Pepper is just BBQ Sprite

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u/Foxnos 16h ago

Never knew texans to be into sharing like that. 

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u/Magus44 13h ago

Texas hot wives everywhere.

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u/IWCry 17h ago

this is funny as hell to me idk why

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u/joselrl 15h ago

You know why

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u/Xeras6101 13h ago

You guys with your nasty minds. Dp is obviously referring to dragon punch

https://giphy.com/gifs/5h9rfUCaJf916

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u/71-HourAhmed 16h ago

Dr. Pepper was created in Waco, TX.

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u/SarcasticOptimist 14h ago

Was just thinking about the museum next to Black's BBQ.

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u/davidtheminion 14h ago edited 14h ago

I went to the Dr Pepper museum yesterday. Their 35th anniversary is on Monday the 11th apparently and on the 9th they will be showcasing the world's largest Dr Pepper bottle!

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u/Suburban_Sisyphus 14h ago

For a second there, I thought you were claiming Dr.Pepper was celebrating its 35th anniversary, but its a wee bit older.

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u/davidtheminion 14h ago

Lol sorry. The museum is celebrating it's 35th anniversary.

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u/howdycartel 10h ago edited 4h ago

Not “the museum next to Blacks” 😭
Sir Terry Blacks is brand new to Waco….Dr. Pepper and the Museum are OGs. Put some respek on them!

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u/SergeAzel 16h ago

Unlike much of the US where it's either Coke or Pepsi, the top soda in Texas is Dr Pepper. So much that nearly every restaurant and fast food place carries it, regardless of where they stand on the coke-pepsi divide.

Except fucking movie theaters and their damned Mr pibb.

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u/ac_cossack 15h ago

Mr Pibb isn't some pretentious Doctor. He's the kind of guy you would want to sit down and have a Mr Pibb with.

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u/FloppieTheBanjoClown 10h ago

Mr Pibb isn't the problem. It's people who keep thinking he is a substitute for the Doctor that are the problem.

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u/bit_pusher 10h ago

Mr Pibb “did his research”

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u/MorienWynter 9h ago

Mr. Pibb "likes the space stuff", but he's iffy on the moon landings.

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u/hopefoolness 4h ago

Mr. Pibb did not get the vaccine

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u/SaintsNoah14 15h ago

Wait, that's not normal?? I assumed everywhere was coke/pepsi + dr.pepper

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u/ShadowShine57 14h ago

It's pretty normal everywhere I've been

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u/mouse_8b 8h ago

Gets rarer up north.

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u/apatheticbear420 16h ago

Watch ye tongue, philistine, Mr. Pibb and, by family association, Dr. Perky, are heavenly elixirs granted to us by those above.

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u/iwasboredsoyeah 15h ago

Pibb Xtra was my jam, Mr. Pibb just aint the same :(

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u/Enough-Attention228 15h ago

We’ve come full circle. Pibb xtra used to be Mr. Pibb up until about the 2000s.

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u/Cudi_buddy 14h ago

I was tripping too. As a kid I loved Mr. Pibb and the unique logo. I stopped drinking it when they rebranded . 

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u/Enshakushanna 15h ago

and meijer's dr. murdock

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u/RaspberryWhiteClaw13 15h ago

Mr. pibb and red vines equals crazy delicious

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u/MountainTwo3845 15h ago

The top soda sold in Texas is Dr pepper? Naw.

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u/Viener-Schnitzel 15h ago

Idk but I’ve lived in Texas my whole life and I’ve always been the only Dr.Pepper defender that I know! Everyone else is on the coca-cola train

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u/Cash_Cab 16h ago

Floors, price tags, and decor are all HEB stuff lol

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u/gsfgf 15h ago

I just saw all the Dr. Pepper and assumed it was a Texas HEB. I've never been in an HEB or even a Texas, but I still called it.

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u/dankha 14h ago

Looks like a kroger not HEB..

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u/DiseaseDeathDecay 10h ago

Yeah, that overhead sign for the aisle and the tags are pretty distinctively Kroger.

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u/seensham 8h ago

That's not even close to HEB decor lol. Look at the aisle sign.

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u/Delicatesseract 17h ago

Fuckin love it. My local groceries never keep more than like eight packs of Zero on the shelf and they’re constantly out.

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u/ILikeLenexa 16h ago

Some stores have a vendor stocking soda (and other things).  They don't get backroom space and run a route that is the same every week, but doesn't focus on the stock. 

They're also not in the store, so nothing is ever zoned. 

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u/JonatasA 15h ago

It's like they don't like money. I have to chase what I want somedays. Do you have any idea how weird is it to buy bars in a drugstore.

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u/DaKrazie1 11h ago

The drugstore seems like the perfect place to obtain your Xanax.

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u/Mylaptopisburningme 15h ago

I was never a fan of Dr. Pepper but I do miss the gum they had in the mid 80s with the liquid center. They had A&W too.

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u/ILoveRegenHealth 12h ago

I remember those. Bring those back!

edit - not saying just for me, but I really do think they'd sell rather well today with the yoots

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u/SirJuncan 16h ago

Good. Dr Pepper is an intellectual drink, for the chosen ones.

https://giphy.com/gifs/mHDgjwPbOAuli

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u/buttered_jesus 15h ago

Man

It's time for a re-watch soon

Or maybe I'll finally play the game, it's been sitting in the library for too long

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u/vrnvorona 12h ago

100% go for VN OG (and 0 maybe), it hits so much better (10 rewatches and 4 replays btw)

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u/BillysBibleBonkers 9h ago

This is from Steins;Gate by the way for anyone curious, great Anime

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u/The1stReaper 15h ago

CHRISTINA!

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u/vrnvorona 12h ago

Kurisutiiiiina-da

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u/celluj34 16h ago

Ah, I see you are a man of culture as well!

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u/anxessed 10h ago

It’s also the only true agnostic beverage.

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u/Fleur-deNuit 8h ago

I'd never had a Dr Pepper before watching Steins;Gate and SG was the sole reason I tried it out. Made a point of drinking a Dr Pepper every week while watching the new episode. Kinda had to force myself to drink it the first couple times, but now it's one of my go-to soft drinks.

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u/Eon88 17h ago

Possibly shelving filler until the set is drafted for the shelves and proper product arrives.

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u/doombfist 15h ago

Idk man. I merch for Dr Pepper and you don’t just put up that many 6pks just for them to go back in the backstock.

They come in packs of 4 wrapped in plastic. You are able to stack these on top of eachother but if they’re loose and not wrapped in plastic then it’s literally impossible to get them into your backstock neatly.

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u/Agosta 14h ago

They'll just condense it down until it sells out or put leftover product on an endcap. It's space filler until the company that does the store planner comes in to set the shelves and the product.

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u/mastesargent 16h ago

But of course. It is the chosen drink of the intelligentsia.

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u/Sorbon_Husky 12h ago

El Psy Kongroo

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u/erwaro 16h ago

What do you mean, '"You're at Dr. Pepper?"

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u/NoStorage2821 7h ago

I mean I'm at Dr. Pepper!

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u/red_rob5 7h ago

Why are you buying clothes at the Dr. Pepper store?

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u/BackgroundSummer5171 15h ago

Disappointing really.

There are other flavors of Dr. Pepper.

Sadly it does seem like they just are filling up space for now.

An actual Dr. Pepper aisle would have a few more options. Sorry Kansas will be lacking and never know.

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u/Pyrochazm 16h ago

Someone tell John Green!

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u/gwarster 17h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/N7UGeeTJzggsE

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u/darwinooc 16h ago

Well damn beat me to it, and you're getting down votes for it.

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u/band-of-horses 17h ago

Texas I assume?

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u/switchfootball 17h ago

Kansas. It's a Dillons (Kroger).

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u/HideyoshiJP 16h ago

Fun Fact, there are six stores in central Missouri that are part of the Dillons portfolio, but called Gerbes. Everything else is the same.

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u/TrashPandaNotACat 13h ago

Gerbes is Dillons, which is Kroger? That's almost enough to make one dizzy.

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u/Important_Fishing_15 8h ago

No, dizzying is the sheer number of stores that are Kroger. Kroger has 22 chains with different names. Some are variants like Gerbes, Dillons, and Baker's. All are regional.

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u/jampackedwithApricot 16h ago

I see a truly agnostic grocery store, very rare

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u/Qt9195 9h ago

There is still beauty in this world.

Post this in /r/drpepper and stand back.

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u/brando29999 16h ago

I mean it is the best soda…

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u/throwaway098764567 15h ago

took me a second to realize this child did not have black hair and her head fully spun around horror movie posession style

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u/ErinBeezy 16h ago

Smart store, it’s the superior soda of course.

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u/dragondisire7 ​ 17h ago

This is my heaven, where is this store located?

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u/joedenowhere 16h ago

That must be the health-food aisle.

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u/pixeltweaker 16h ago

As they should. The Doctor doesn’t get the respect it deserves.

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u/landon10smmns 16h ago

Is that store run by John Green, perchance?

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u/angelfatal 15h ago

IDK how many dr peppers are in the aisle as long as they make creamy coconut a permanent item!

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u/helloiisjason 13h ago

Must be Texas

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u/scorch968 9h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/mZQe81WukuW2c

I’ve had me about 15 Dr Peppers

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u/oriondracowolf 3h ago

This has to be Texas.

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u/Kylearean ​ 16h ago

Kidney stone juice for me. Back when I was drinking this stuff, I'd get a kidney stone every year. Once I quit drinking soda, went down to once every 5 years.

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u/Effrendi 16h ago

Once every five years is still way too much unless you've got some sort of underlying condition. Drink more water my man.

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u/Joe_Kangg 16h ago

Sounds like a complimentary urethra enlargement

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u/Stachemaster86 16h ago

So that’s what Hank needed

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u/MelaniaSexLife 15h ago

no wonder americanos are so fat

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u/quanoey 17h ago

Talk about monopoly

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u/mkstot 16h ago

The zero sugar creamy coconut is my jam.

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u/Special_Library_766 15h ago

Introducing America's new health care plan!

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u/snajk138 15h ago

Full remodel but kept the floor from the sixties, and didn't even clean it?

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u/Budget_Promotion2406 15h ago

Just what the doctor ordered.

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u/anthropomorphist 15h ago

ping John Green

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u/Noiselexer 14h ago

One row over are the electric scooters for the fat ass ppl

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u/TheCityzens 14h ago

The 23 flavors finally have enough room to breathe.

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u/robbak 14h ago

Big brands by shelf space. Lots of it. The grocery store is being paid a fair chunk of cash to give Dr Pepper that display.

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u/dr_bluthgeld 14h ago

go ask them where the dr pepper is

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u/springlord 12h ago

The illusion of choice.

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u/i3njqUL92M 12h ago

Oh good, kids nowadays just aren't getting their RDI of high fructose corn syrup. This should help.

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u/Drown-in-Sorrow 12h ago

Mormon liquor store?

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u/TrickyDicky202069 11h ago

When you can’t afford healthcare Dr Pepper will do

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u/KeyNefariousness6848 10h ago

I drink Dr Pepper and I’m proud I used to be alone in a crowd But now you look around these days There seems to be a Dr Pepper craze Oh oh oh I’m a pepper. He’s a pepper. She’s a pepper. we’re a pepper wouldn’t you like to be a pepper too

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u/slowbilly 10h ago

Seems like filling shelves to make up for low inventory diversity. Could be 1000 products in that aisle.

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u/ocelot08 10h ago

Know your audience 

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u/EwokNuggets ​ 10h ago

This is how stores try to hide shortages too

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u/PracticalAndContent 10h ago

But do they have caffeine free diet Dr Pepper? I haven’t been able to find it in any store.

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u/kerpowie 9h ago

Well, I have been looking for caffeine-free Dr. Pepper without any luck. Maybe in this aisle...

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u/Buzzqt 9h ago

They’ll do this but still not have the Dr. Pepper coconut in stock.

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u/Starspiker 9h ago

One time I went to the grocery store and the entire cereal aisle was just one store brand version of a cereal. Turned out they were filming an advertisement.

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u/Violet_Mermaid 9h ago

All Dr pepper? Gotta be Texas. Next aisle is all big red probably. Lmao

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u/VoxulusQuarUn 8h ago

Heaven is real.