Driving on Reynolds Road, it’s hard to miss a certain building these days. In the 1960s, it served Bryant as a U.S. Post Office. It now looks like a giant box of popcorn, with red and white stripes painted up the exterior walls and a big buttery yellow awning out front. Kim Simmons is the owner of Pookie’s Popcorn. I talked to her to find out all about this new source for snacks.
Kim said they will start with 20 flavors of popcorn in the store. They’ll also have buttered popcorn hot and ready all the time, with extra butter available. Their other offerings will be an array of sodas in the nostalgic glass bottles, bulk candy and cotton candy.
A little background on Kim… her family used to own the Hot Springs Village Voice, but sold in the late 1990s. She and husband Matt have moved to Bryant since then and together they have three children. Kim worked for the Bryant School District for five years as a Special Education teacher. She’s also been in sales quite a bit in one capacity or another.
Click to go to the interactive Google map.
The most important question here is “who is Pookie?” Is it Kim’s nickname? One of the kids’ names? Come to find out, it’s their dog – a cute little Cavalier King Charles and Maltese mix, who happens to like popcorn too. Don’t think they have forgotten the dog population. Kim says they will have small cups of peanut butter or chicken flavored popcorn for our furry friends.
Future plans include giving back to the community with fundraisers, and possibly adding hand-dipped ice cream.
Pookie’s Popcorn is at 206 North Reynolds Road in Bryant. They hope to open at the end of July 2017. Their planned hours of business are Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m. – 7 p.m., and they may be open for a couple of hours on Sundays.
Here is the view, looking south from NE 3rd Street.
