Fiiz Drinks reopens under new ownership in Rio Rancho

Awnya Boam did not just take over a soda shop in Rio Rancho. She took ownership of a brand she had loved since childhood, giving Fiiz Drinks a new chapter at 3301 Southern Blvd. SE #605, near the busy Pinetree Road and Southern Boulevard corridor.

The shop marked its grand reopening on May 5, and the location matters as much as the name on the door. In a retail strip built around steady traffic and quick stops, a specialty drink concept has to win customers with convenience, novelty and repeat visits. Boam’s pitch leans on all three. She said the rise of “dirty sodas” and the broader demand for nonalcoholic options has helped soda shops gain momentum, especially with younger customers and millennials.

Fiiz is built for that kind of market. The brand describes itself as a modern twist on the old soda fountain shop and says it offers more than 10,000 drink combinations. In a beverage category crowded with coffee chains, energy drinks and convenience-store coolers, that level of customization gives Fiiz a clear identity. A business-for-sale listing said the Rio Rancho store had been operating since 2023 and called it the first and only dirty-soda shop of its kind in the Albuquerque metro area, a rare niche in a metro area that has already shown an appetite for specialty drinks.

The Rio Rancho shop is also part of a larger franchise system that has expanded quickly. Fiiz says it was born in Bountiful, Utah, in 2014 and has grown to more than 70 locations across the United States. Franchise directories list franchising as beginning in 2015, with total units in the 50s, while the company says it is the largest and fastest-growing specialty soda shop franchise in the nation. That kind of growth suggests the model is still in an expansion phase, not a saturated one.

Boam said she wants to open additional locations in Rio Rancho and elsewhere in New Mexico, though she said that will take time. For Sandoval County, the reopening is a small but telling sign of reinvestment: a recognizable storefront stays open, a local owner steps in, and a niche business tries to deepen its foothold in a market where consumer tastes are still shifting.