NWI Business Ins and Outs: Lady’s Gourmet Popcorn, Normal Block Entertainment, Atlas Room and Orbar BBQ opening

The long-running family-owned gourmet popcorn shop in downtown Griffith is moving to a bigger space a short distance away. The popcorn shop at 118 N. Broad Street is moving into the former G&G Hobbies shop at 105 W. Main St. in downtown Griffith.

“It’s larger, more visible and it has parking,” co-owner Carly Haugh said. “It is difficult to find parking.”

G&G Hobbies closed in late 2022 after longtime owner Larry Gradek died. He willed the hobby shop to longtime employee Eric Wise, who tried to sell it to someone who would keep it going as a hobby shop but to no avail.

“He tried to sell the business for a long time as a hobby shop,” she said. “It was probably a year before we told Eric that we were interested. We were looking for a space that’s ours.”

Lady’s Gourmet Popcorn was named after Dolores “Lady” Dexter, who made caramel corn during the holidays for family and friends with a recipe from the Hammond Times. In 2013, her family started selling Lady’s Caramel Corn at the Griffith Central Market and then opened a shop in downtown Griffith.

Lady’s Gourmet Popcorn now sells pretzels, cookies and 20 different types of gourmet popcorn at any given time.

“We turn 11 years old on Dec. 5. That’s a result of the amazing community,” she said. “Me and my mom love what we do and enjoy being here. We put a lot of love into it and the customers love what we do. The community supports us and we support the community.”

Lady’s Gourmet Popcorn also plans to bring back cold soups from Relish, a hot dog joint it used to operate in downtown Griffith.

“We have a large space here but a lot of it is hallways. We’re not able to fully utilize the building,” she said. “When we move into this building, it will be designed to be a popcorn shop and will be a lot larger. We’ll own it so this will be our last move.”

Lady’s Gourmet Popcorn plans to do a complete renovation of the space, including by putting in a commercial kitchen. Construction should take months, but they hope to be open in the new space by the beginning of the year.

“We’ll have a lot more space for production. We’ll be able to handle larger orders and be able to expand with treats and offerings,’ she said. “In the grand scheme of things, we’ll be able to take on larger fundraisers and be able to give back to the community.’

Times of Northwest Indiana readers have repeatedly voted Lady’s Gourmet Popcorn Best of the Region.

“It’s a fun place to come visit,” Haugh said. “It’s a true family-owned business. I think people enjoy that.’

Lady’s Gourmet Popcorn makes small-batch popcorn in a nut-free facility. It focuses on small quantities to ensure freshness and quality.

It has 20 flavors in stock at any given time, including 10 core flavors. The core flavors include a cheddar-caramel mix known as Central Park, caramel, cheesy caramel, bacon cheddar, white cheddar, pickle, churro, butter and pepper pop.

Rotating flavors include pumpkin spice caramel, wings of fire, honey mustard and voodoo caramel. It offers vegan flavors like a vegan Central Park, a vegan caramel and a vegan sour apple.

“I find there are two different types of popcorn people,” Haugh said. “There are the people who like classic popcorn like caramel-cheddar or movie theater butter. There are the adventurous who like to try the spiciest thing you’ve got and mix up a lot of flavors. We have flavors you can’t get at other popcorn shops. We mix the spices here. This is what happens when people with culinary degrees make popcorn.”

Many customers who come into the shop seek out spicy flavors. It keeps hot peppers in the back. She will add extra Reaper, Scorpion or Ghost Peppers upon request.

“We take care of our people,” she said.

Lady’s Gourmet Popcorn experiments with different flavors, like key lime pie or brisket mac and cheese.

“Usually I’ve eaten something and try to make that into popcorn,” Haugh said. “We get suggestions from customers like ideas of mixes. A customers might ask for a mix of cheddar bacon, pepper pot and pickle flavors and we say that sounds good.”

Lady’s Gourmet Popcorn does a lot of special orders, such as for Griffith Youth Baseball and Highland Little League fundraisers in which players sell popcorn orders the shop fulfills. It also makes popcorn in bulk for special events like weddings, baby showers and birthday parties.

The new spot will allow it to handle more and larger special orders.

“We have the architecture plans done. We’re super excited to be moving into this building, a historic building that also was home to a longtime family business. It feels really special,” she said. “You may see a small nod to G&G. They left a thing or two.”

Coming soon

Normal Block Entertainment just leveled up in Valparaiso.

Owner and President Kyle Reynolds opened the pop culture store Saturday. The store “for nerds, by nerds” opened in the former Magic Sports storefront at 706 Lincolnway.

It’s a pop culture, comics, manga, anime, collectibles and video game store. People are invited to come in and hang out, play an arcade game, watch a show or compete in a video game tournament.

“What inspired it was an idea I had in business school,” Reynolds said. “I was reading case studies about the retail market and noticed video game and comic book stores were losing ground to online markets, but I noticed stores that offered more experiences and community in major metropolitan areas were still thriving.”

So Normal Block Entertainment will try to cultivate an environment where people hang out and get together to play video games like Pac-Man, Mortal Kombat or Donkey Kong.

“People also will be able to play XBox games. We have games ranging from retro to new, going all the way from 1980 to around 2020 or 2021,” he said. 

It will host video game tournaments for games like “Smash Brothers,” as well as role-playing game nights for Magic the Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons. It will release a calendar that also will include fantasy game tournaments and general trivia nights.

“We’re looking at all pop culture,” Reynolds said. “We want to have a variety of interest events for the community of Northwest Indiana that’s interested in pop culture. All fandoms are invited to come in and check it out.”

It will stock posters, T-shirts, Funko Pops, Pokémon trading cards, used comic books and new graphic novels.

“We’re looking at items you can’t find online, things that people are interested or want but aren’t buying on eBay,” he said. “We’re trying to provide something other stores aren’t.”

The store will have a large selection of DC, Marvel, Image and independent comics, as well as manga. It will have anime DVDs and Blu-Rays, as well as video game posters and other merchandise.

“We think Valparaiso’s a great location,” Reynolds said. “It’s a growing city and a great suburban town that’s added a lot of amenities in the last couple years. It’s a thriving retail market overall. A lot of folks are coming in from Illinois, especially younger folks. We’re right by the college campus and not far from the retail shopping area downtown.”

Over time, Normal Block Entertainment plans to expand and have a presence at conventions like C2E2 or NWI Comic-Con.

“Our goal is to be a destination for the Region and to have a few other locations,” he said. “You don’t see a lot of stories of this nature outside of major metropolitan areas. We like to say we’re by nerds, for nerds.”

Normal Block Entertainment will be open from 2-6 p.m. on weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday.

For more information, call 219-746-3756

Charcuterie, a longtime staple in downtown Griffith, has been rebranded as the Atlas Room.

Charcuterie opened at a specialty deli grocery at 128 N. Broad St. in 2016. It carried a wide array of international, artisan and unique products like fancy mustards, honeys, pastas and other foodstuffs. It carried on the tradition of the then recently closed DeRosa Imports and was especially well-known for its gourmet sandwiches and, of course, its signature cured meat selections.

But over time it evolved into more of a bar focusing on imported and sophisticated beers, wines and cocktails.

Now that it’s largely phased out food in favor of spirits, it’s adopting a new name and identity.

“It has a new name, the Atlas Room and the changes are coming along really quickly,” said co-owner Valerie Gonzalez, who owns it along with Skip Jones. “We basically always carried a lot of imports. But as we changed the business model, we went from imported foods to imported beers and wines and a new menu of cocktails inspired by cocktails all over the world.”

The Atlas Room is decorated with maps, globes, flags and other decorations meant to infuse it with international flair. It will offer a Beers Around the World incentive program for customers.

In the back, it’s adding old school arcade games like Frogger, Pole Position, Golden Tee and pinball. It will add a vinyl record corner and have a Vinyl Wednesday during which people can bring in and play their own records. 

“It will be an awesome hangout,” Gonzalez said. “We’ll have a short bar menu with snacks like pull-apart baguettes, Bavarian pretzels and empanadas. They will keep you at the bar but it’s not somewhere to go for dinner.”

Customers can bring in pizza from the nearby Barton’s Pizzeria.

“It works out for them and us. We try to support local businesses,” Gonzalez said.

Charcuterie started out selling a selection of craft beers, originally added a small bar in the back and evolved based on customer demand.

“When we had the food and international market, people loved the sandwiches, but that was the least profitable piece of the business,” she said. “Over time we came up with the right concept as we were trying to find our path. Customers gravitated toward the beer and wine. We moved in a different direction but did it quietly and with minimal advertising. There was a void. We have upscale drinks but that’s not all we have. You could drink Busch Light all night long.”

The business came from an authentic place, she said.

“At our house we love food. We love wine. We love cooking with wine. We’ll throw on some music and make it a date night,” she said. “We love all these things. We’re passionate about it. It’s an internationally based business representing different regions of the world. We wanted to be known for something special.”

The Atlas Room typically has a selection of German, Bavarian and Polish beers, as well as Italian and French wines. The seasonal cocktails are inspired by different countries around the world.

“It’s very eclectic,” Gonzalez said. “It’s a place where you can come in, get a seat and have a good conversation. It’s a little bit elevated. It’s a very chill, super-comfortable place.”

Charcuterie occupies about 2,500 square feet and complements neighboring businesses like S&J Stereo and The Wurst, she said.

“I love it downtown,” she said. “Griffith is a great place that’s getting some new things. It’s got so many cool places.”

It’s planning to host events like sip and paints, sometimes in collaboration with other local businesses like Golden Afternoon in downtown Highland and Avenue 912 in Griffith.

“We love to support local businesses and team up with local businesses,” she said.

Coming soon

A new barbecue spot is coming to Portage.

Richard Orelup operates the popup Orbar BBQ. It sells brisket, pulled pork, green beans, corn casserole and other foods at places like Aylesworth Elementary School and Central Park Plaza in Valparaiso.

He’s in the process of buying a brick-and-mortar location in Portage and turning it into a barbecue restaurant.

Orbar BBQ is tentatively slated to open next summer, Orelup said.