Wheaton Remembers Little Popcorn Store Owner Bill Wakefield

WHEATON, IL -- When The Little Popcorn Store asked its customers to share memories of late owner Bill Wakefield online, the outpouring they got was massive. More than 1,000 people posted anecdotes of walking into that tiny popcorn shop at 111 1/4 Front Street to stock up on popcorn to sneak into the Wheaton Theatre or of chatting with Wakefield, who died Sunday after battling cancer. He was 67.

Here are some of the dedications customers left on The Little Popcorn Shop's Facebook page.

"I used to bike to The Popcorn Shop frequently and I spent all my allowance there since I could get the most bang for my literal buck." - Mary S.

"The Popcorn Shop embodies everything that is good." - Cheryl Anne

"Best popcorn on the planet." -Basically Everyone

The sign above the business simply reads "Popcorn Store," a modest moniker for a shop Wakefield imbued with so much magic. Wakefield bought the store with his sister in the late 1970s and filled the narrow, four-foot space with a larger selection of penny candies, freshly popped corn, and novelty items.

Wakefield's charismatic and honest nature kept families coming back to The Little Popcorn Shop generation after generation. Online, residents recalled Wakefield's generous and helpful nature, musing about how they would gather their change leave beaming, with bags brimming with candies.

"I still come in years later after you would help me empty my piggy bank and count my coins," Katrina M. wrote.

It was these little things that customers seemed to cherish most about Wakefield. After his diagnosis in April, The Little Popcorn Store temporarily closed, but current plans are to keep the shop up and running to carry on Wakefield's epic legacy, Daily Herald reports.

A celebration of Wakefield's life is also in the works. If the current outpouring of love for Wakefield is any indication, it's likely to be a big one.

Just like each memory Wakefield helped create in that tiny little popcorn shop on Front Street.