“I’ve learned a lot, but it’s given me a lot more flexibility with my family and things like that,” she said, “It’s a lot of work, I call my third child (the store). Still, I’m a talker so I definitely like the community and interacting with regular people. All businesses in downtown are like our own little community, and I’ve known and been friendly with a lot of those people.
Hillman said he’d have to go with Jalapeno Cheddar as his favorite flavor, though classic kettle corn was a close second. As she says, you can never go wrong with a kettle. But despite all the flavors on offer, she says she and her husband still take the time to think of new flavors or consider customer requests.
“We just go out and drive at night, and we’ll just consider the kind of food and flavors we like and how we can incorporate them into popcorn,” she said.
Although her store was open about half a year before the start of the pandemic, Hillman said that apart from being closed for a few months, her business hasn’t been affected too negatively by it. Plus, while the holidays are the busiest times for her store, she said Pearl City Popcorn sees a steady influx of customers throughout the year.
“I am very pleased with how far the community has come to support and care for their small businesses,” Hillman said. Without them, we wouldn’t be here, so their continued support is comforting to me.”
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