The scent of butter, not sugar, is the calling card.
A Twin Cities institution, Candyland has been around since the 1930s, and most customers know it for its “Chicago mix” popcorn, a combination of plain, cheese, and caramel varieties. The co-owners, mother-son duo Brenda and Brandon Lamb, have been popping that corn since the family purchased the business in 1981 from Arnie Kelsey, who bought it from the founders in 1938. (The original store name was Flavo Korn Shop.)
Despite the name, “I like to tell people we’re more of a popcorn shop, because that’s really what we’ve been doing for 94 years, but we’ve added a ton of stuff like chocolates that we make ourselves,” Brandon says. Popcorn is Candyland’s bestseller at all its stores, accounting for 40% of sales, with chocolate second at 25%.
The Lamb family owns all three Candyland stores—the iconic locations in the downtowns of Minneapolis and St. Paul, as well as a Stillwater location they opened in 2012, which is now the growth engine…