Popping Into Elmhurst: Goalie's Goodies Offers Classic Treats With a Bit of Nostalgia

When Debbie Watrous decided to name her company Goalie’s Goodies back in 2010, she had no idea that the Blackhawks would win the Stanley Cup once, let alone twice in a matter of a few years.

And, the fact that red, white and black are her favorite colors was just another coincidence.

Watrous and her husband, Cory, opened Goalie’s Goodies, 116 S. York St., about a month ago, offering customers a variety of popcorn, candy and frozen treats.

Back in 2010, Watrous founded a food company with the goal of making and selling cakes and pastries, but the vision for the business changed over time, she said.

The name Goalie’s Goodies was a natural fit for Watrous, who is a goalie on a hockey team. She started skating when she was 19 and is a goalie on the Fighting Squirrels, a team based in Carol Stream. Her husband is also a hockey goalie, she said.

For 13 years Watrous was an accountant, and the last two years she worked as an event planner, but in February she lost her job, she said. She was working on a business plan and intended to open her popcorn business eventually, but plans were moved up once she lost her job.

“Popcorn is such a great blank slate and you can coat it with just about anything,” she said. “As a one-woman show it was something I could get up and running pretty easily.”

Along with her business background, she has a baking and pastry certificate from Kendall College.

“I had originally planned to do a popcorn truck. Unfortunately, in the city of Chicago, it’s hard to own a truck. Once I started looking at equipment and where I would put that equipment, owning a shop made a lot more sense.”

She intended to open a popcorn shop in Chicago, where Watrous and her husband live. That plan was nixed when she learned another popcorn shop was slated to open only a few blocks from her prefered site. She started looking for another location and chose Elmhurst.

“I thought downtown Elmhurst would fit in well with the walking-around and small-town feel of the city,” she said.

The business sells a variety of popcorn flavors, from the standard butter to ranch, buffalo and chocolate. She tries to have new flavor options every week; plans are in the works to offer parmesan and garlic, along with vinegar and lime. 

For now, the main popcorn flavors offered are butter, caramel corn, Chicago mix (a combination of cheddar and caramel), regular cheddar, spicy cheddar, white cheddar, buffalo, ranch and chocolate. Red hot cinnamon, which tastes like a Red Hot candy, and honey mustard also are offered.

Watrous posts what flavors are being offered weekly, in addition to the standard flavors, on her Facebook and Twitter pages, she said.

Along with the popcorn, the store also sells candy in bulk. The candy tends to be nostalgic for many customers, she said. She sells a variety—from Goetze's Bulls Eyes to Mary Janes, saltwater taffy to Slo Pokes. She also offers frozen treats, such as Firecracker Popsicles and Dove Bars.

Candy is sold in bulk at $5.50 per pound. Customers can by as little or as much as they like.

“One thing I have been striving for so far is to keep my price point reasonable,” she said. “I want it to be a family shop where people can come back. I don’t want them to feel they are spending a lot on a bag of popcorn."

She also wants kids to get their money's worth.

"Like when you were a kid and you could take the money you got from mom and dad and spend it on candy and know you got something for it. That is what I’m trying to strive for,” she said.