Support Small: Poptique

A Father’s Love

lives on in popcorn business

By Jennie Renner

When Lindsey Hively was just 18 years old, she and her dad, Gary, opened Kernel Coladas, now Poptique Popcorn, in Columbia City. Gary was a partner in the business from the beginning, but he said it was Lindsey’s “brainchild.”

Lindsey may have gotten some of her enterprising spirit from her dad, who also owns a vacuum cleaner store and a carpet cleaning business. Lindsey would read his business books as a child, and she set up a little stand along the side of the road trying to sell rocks. “I kinda feel like she came out of the womb an entrepreneur,” said Gary.

In June 2014, Poptique opened a second shop in the Jefferson Pointe shopping center. In September of that year, Lindsey was diagnosed with cancer. In April 2015, Lindsey died at the age of 27; she would have been 35 years old this July.

Lindsey really wanted to have a shop in downtown Fort Wayne after doing pop-up shops there in 2012 and 2013. In her last text exchange with her dad, she said she had been contacted by the organization opening the City Exchange Shops on Wayne Street. They were doing an open house and wanted to know if Lindsey would be there. “And so I texted back, ‘yes, we will be there,’” said Gary.

Those final words to his daughter have fueled him to continue Lindsey’s legacy. He kept his promise, and opened a Poptique Popcorn on Wayne Street where it has been since recently moving around the corner to a location on Calhoun Street.

In 2008, when they first opened, there weren’t many popcorn shops in Indiana; now there are about 200. To stand out, Gary said he focuses on quality. “We don’t cut any corners when we make our stuff, so it is more expensive, but people who appreciate quality get that.”

Poptique was doing a fair number of weddings until the COVID-19 pandemic shut those down. More recently, Gary has concentrated on increasing his commercial customer base. Poptique just started supplying popcorn for the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo. They will be delivering regular buttered popcorn throughout the week as the zoo needs it to keep their stores supplied. a lot of her creative spirit,” said Gary. “I’ve never seen anybody with as much drive as she had.”

At a memorial service after she died, Gary saw pictures and videos of Lindsey that he had never seen before because they were taken by her friends. That night, he had a revelation: “Here’s a girl that lived 80 years of life in 27. She liked to have fun, but yet she worked her butt off. I think we’d probably have ten different stores around the area (if Lindsey were still alive),” said Gary. “This was her dream.” a

Poptique Popcorn

Columbia City 120 W. Walker Way Columbia City, IN 46725 (260) 244-3745 or (877) 633-5400

Fort Wayne Jefferson Pointe 4206 W. Jefferson Blvd., Suite C3 Fort Wayne, IN 46804 (260) 459-3767

Downtown 912 S. Calhoun St. Fort Wayne, IN 46802 (260) 422-3777