By Patrick Kernan, Wilkes-Barre Times Leader
WILKES-BARRE — If you think you smell popcorn while holiday shopping in downtown Wilkes-Barre on Saturday, it’s not your mind playing tricks on you.
It’s the sweet smell of entrepreneurship and a new business.
The One Stop Pop Shop will open its doors for the first time to customers on what’s come to be known as Small Business Saturday.
Setting up shop in one of the storefronts in the Midtown Village — coincidentally right across the way from the similarly named yet separate Holiday Pop-Up Shops — owner Ruth Smith said her store will be selling a wide variety of gourmet confections.
“We’ll have gourmet popcorn, lollipops, soda pop,” Smith said, explaining the origin of the name. “It goes over a lot of people’s heads.”
Featuring brands like Jelly Belly jellybeans and Hank’s Gourmet Beverages, Smith is seeking to satisfy the sweet tooth of many a downtown shopper.
“We’ll have about 30 flavors of jelly beans,” Smith said while showing off the bubble gum and chocolate pudding flavors. “And if people come in saying, ‘Oh, my favorite flavor is whatever,’ we’ll try to get that, too.”
The Wapwallopen woman said the shop will be featuring some sort of deal for the combination of Small Business Saturday and the store’s grand opening.
But specifics haven’t been worked out quite yet, so you’ll just have to stop by to see for yourself what potential bargains could be had.
However, there will definitely be free samples of the various flavors of popcorn available to all customers.
“People may not have tried all of these flavors,” said Smith.
And just to add an extra layer of temptation, she said “we have an air vent that’ll be wafting out the smell of the deliciousness.”
Unlike the nearby pop-up shops, Smith is planning for her store to be a permanent, year-round fixture on South Main Street.
