Is Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe from 'Riverdale' real? Yes, and it's in Canada


Nothing serves a big, fat, juicy slice of Americana like a diner. Combine that with another all-American icon like Archie Comics and you get Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe, a fictional 24-hour diner with a pop cultural heft to rival that of Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks”.

Archie Andrews and gang’s favorite hangout is a key setting in Riverdale, scribe Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's gritty TV adaptation of the almost 80-year-old comic books.

The pilot episode of The CW (and Netflix) series, which aired in 2017, had cast and crew decamp to Rocko’s Diner in the town of Mission, just an hour’s drive from Vancouver.

Rocko's Diner in Mission, British Columbia was used for scenes in the pilot episode of Riverdale. Photo via Jeff Hitchcock

Before Riverdale, Rocko's Diner had gained global recognition as a filming location for the Daniel Radcliffe vehicle Horns and the Harry Potter-inspired Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief. 

Owner Debbi Schiller has rechristened her milkshakes after the characters because, well, they bring boys and girls to the yard. So the strawberry apple pie milkshake is now The Archie; the chocolate cherry cola variant is The Veronica; the banana caramel pecan flavour is The Betty; and the jolly rancher option is The Jughead.

Famished Riverdale pilgrims can enjoy a load of eats at Rocko's, including The Jughead Burger which pays tribute to the notorious comic-book glutton. 

Rocko’s Diner is just near the US-Canada border, making it accessible to fans from Seattle and Portland. Since this is Canada, Rocko’s serves tasty poutine and, for tourists aged no younger than 19, boozier variants of the shakes.

For two days in October 2017, Netflix ran several pop-up Pop’s diners across Canada.


Rocko’s has not served as a filming location since the Riverdale pilot. Pop’s Chock-lit Shoppe is now its own standalone set in a parking lot at 20233 100a Ave in the city of Langley, also in British Columbia.

The Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe set in Vancouver, Canada. Photo via Jeff Hitchcock

Comments