Here are a few of our favorite gluten-free snacks: Popcorn is still freshly popped, candy lines the wall, and locals greet each other warmly while welcoming newcomers to this very special place called The Little Popcorn Store.With the kiddos back in school it's time to get your parent-brain thinking about easy, tasty snacks to send along for a yummy midday pick-me-up, or to set out after school for happy homework-time munching. Today, stepping into the store’s small, quaint space is like stepping back in time. To top it off, we add a light amount of salt so you can really get that corn taste. We also use a little bit of vegetable oil, helping keep your popcorn tasting fresh. Today, we use white corn – which is sweeter, smaller, and less tough than yellow corn – plus, it's lighter and doesn't need butter. "It's not what we do to the popcorn," says Wakefield, "it's what we don't do." The secret to our great tasting popcorn is not about special ingredients or seasonings. In addition, the candy line was expanded, featuring both old favorites and new sweets. With a desire to keep the store faithful to how people remembered it, Wakefield made minor improvements, most notably raising the roof to give the store the feeling of more space.
#BACK IN TIME POPCORN FREE#
The candy was sold separately or given away free to children who bought popcorn.īrown passed his love for popcorn down to his daughter Erma – who ran the store before current owner Bill Wakefield took ownership over 40 years ago. In the back of the store, Brown had 70 apothecary jars filled with different kinds of penny candy. The bright eyed retired accountant expanded his offerings beyond popcorn. He gave it up, he said, "because of federal interstate commerce regulations." "Plus," he continued, "I had to pay my part-time help too much to make it profitable." Too little and it burns."īrown used to ship his popcorn to friends all over the country. Too much and it won't pop quickly enough. "While it's cooking," he said, "the popcorn has to be agitated just so. When asked why, Brown replied, "most of them say it's the tastiest they can buy anywhere." On many sunny summer Sundays, as many as 50 people at a time could be found lined up in front of the narrow shop ready to buy Brown's delicious popcorn.Īpart from the ingredients, Brown's popcorn magic required the wrist-action of a billiard shark. Many came from all over the Chicago area to buy Brown's popcorn – and some as far away as Milwaukee. Placing a roof over the alleyway, the newer store provided much needed space – 1/2 a foot wider and twice as long!Īccording to a newspaper article in the Chicago Daily News dated, Brown sold $15,000 worth of popcorn in 1958 to over 100,000 popcorn connoisseurs. "It's ordinary cottonseed oil," he said, "with a little bit of something else added." However, Brown never revealed what his "something else" was.įourteen years later in 1935, Brown moved a few doors down to our current location at 111 1/4 Front Street. Wedged between a barber shop and livery stand, Brown set up his first shop.ĭuring his first year, Brown experimented with 10 kinds of popcorn, a half dozen oils, and nearly 100 different recipes to find the perfect combination for his signature popcorn. Claire Brown placed a roof over an alleyway at 109 1/4 Front Street that was only 3.5 feet wide and 30 feet long. A cherished landmark in the heart of downtown Wheaton, Illinois at 111 1/4 Front Street – The Little Popcorn Store is perhaps one of the most loved and narrowest stores in the Chicago area measuring 4-feet wide by 64 feet long.
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