There are a few upscale communities that still have them, and they might go by different names in different parts of the country, but the soda shops I'm thinking of are the ones where they had the soda fountains, with various flavors according to the syrups they added, such as cherry coke, vanilla coke, and so on. Most of them also had soft-serve ice cream with chocolate or butterscotch toppings. There was one in Marinette, Wisconsin that was attached to a regular bar but with separate entrances. It was in the same building and, although there was a wall between the soda shop and the beer bar, the counter connected so the same guy served both counters except during peak hours when they had a couple of people behind the counter. The fountain drinks tasted a lot better than the canned equivalents that you can get now, plus there were many more combinations, and it's hard to find anyone serving butterscotch toppings anymore. Although you can buy it in the store, it's not the same. The soda shop in Marinette was still open when I visited my hometown with my son when I was in my thirties, but there's a different building there now.
What a coincidence, my first post today I mentioned soda fountain and then see you put this up, would that be synchronicity or coincidence? The one I mentioned was mostly in drug store soda fountain's but basically the same thing. The guy at the fountain was called a soda jerk. I think because he 'jerked' the handles back to fill glass.