From the Comics: Riverdale- Pop Tate’s deal with the Devil
Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe is a staple of the Riverdale television series. It is where Archie first met Veronica, where Jughead started writing his novel, and where everyone spends most of their free time. In the show, Pop’s has also been around for a long time, as most of the show’s older generation remember going to it when they were young. This begs the question: how has a small shop like Pop’s managed to stay open for over a half-century? The Riverdale comics answer this question with a creepy and unexpected story involving a mysterious fire and a deal with the devil.
Around the mid-70’s, Pop Tate took over management of the Chock’lit Shoppe from his father. At the same time, a fancy, new restaurant, Luigi’s, opened up in downtown Riverdale. The sudden popularity of Luigi’s stole most of the Chock’lit Shoppe’s normal clientele and nearly forced Pop to close up shop.
However, Pop decided to play one final gambit to save his father’s place. He spent all his savings on a custom-made neon sign and hung it outside, hoping it would draw in customers from the nearby highway and save the business. This plan worked, though not in the way Pop expected.
On the next winter solstice, Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe was visited by a man who was just turned away from Luigi’s for not having a reservation. The man asked Pop to cook him up a burger, even though, at the time, the Chock’lit Shoppe didn’t serve burgers. Luckily, Pop was able to scrounge up the materials to make a few burgers and was able to serve the man. After eating, the man told Pop how much he loved the burgers and suggested that Pop start serving them on a regular basis. He also commented that Pop shouldn’t worry about Luigi’s anymore as that business was “not long for this world.”
One week later, Luigi’s burned to the ground in a way that left absolutely no trace of the former establishment. The customers all came back to Pop’s, where the kitchen menu was expanded to include burgers. That resurgence of customers allowed the Chock’lit Shoppe to weather their financial hardships and make it to the state seen throughout the Riverdale show.
Now, every year on the winter solstice, Pop Tate closes early under the guise of doing “inventory and repairs.” On this night, he is visited by the same man who stopped by nearly 40 years prior. He serves the man a burger and the two part ways until next year. Pop claims that he’s heard some men sell their souls for success, whereas all he pays is a “couple of burgers once a year.”
Recommended Reading
If you’re interested in reading these comic adventures for yourself, we recommend picking up the following title:
- Riverdale #6– in which Pop recounts this exact encounter and a few other Riverdale ghost stories. This comic can currently be found collected in Riverdale Vol. 2 (Review).
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