Hand-in-hand with grandma, one foot in the door, their eyes widen and a grin stretches across their face. Lined on the brightly colored walls they see sugar in all forms—soda, gumballs, taffy and in the back of the shop awaits a selection of 57 popcorn flavors.
Over the Moon Popcorn is bringing sweetness to San Marcos with an array of old-fashioned candy and popcorn to choose from. After seven months of preparation, the shop opened Feb. 1 and will have a ribbon cutting with the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce for its grand opening Feb. 20.
From managing cows, horses and chickens to moon pies, cheddar and fudge, Ray and Jeanette York gave up their country lifestyle in Harwood, Texas, to run an old school candy shop with popcorn.
The married couple of 31 years sold the acres of ranch land they once owned, gave up their daytime jobs and moved into a two-bedroom apartment above two Texas State fraternity students to launch the only locally owned candy shop in San Marcos.
“We gave everything up to do this business, all the dice are on the table,” Ray said. “We believed in it, and we decided to move to San Marcos so we could provide a great concept to the community.”
Inspiration for the shop derives from Ray’s sister, who also owns a popcorn shop in Texas. Ray said the recipes were generated by professionals; he, his sister and Jeanette have developed new flavors along the way.
The Yorks chose to open the shop in San Marcos due to the young demographic and retirees in the area. They wanted to give the younger generation a chance to experience nostalgic sodas and candies while the older generations reminisce on those products.
The store includes a wall of untraditional sodas like mustard soda, gondolas in the center of the store with jars of gummy candy and near the cashier sits fudge, pralines and caramel apples.
Fifty-seven popcorn flavors is only the beginning for Over the Moon Popcorn. The York’s limited themselves to what they thought the area would be interested in. The menu breaks down the flavors into savory and cheese, candied, specialty, caramel with nuts, caramel blends and lists a few other specialty recipes.
The popcorn is air popped and made in store with natural flavoring. Ray makes most of the popcorn flavors while Jeanette makes the fudge, glazed nuts and pralines daily.
“(The popcorn) doesn’t get shipped here, it’s made here with love,” Jeanette said.
Ray said Over the Moon Popcorn is seeing a great response from the community since opening.
Margaret Motomochi took her granddaughter to Over the Moon Popcorn Feb. 15. Her granddaughter Serenity Doninduez thought the shop was really cool and nothing like she had been in before.
“I wasn’t expecting it to be like this,” Motomochi said. “It’s nice to have something different in this neighborhood.”
Over the Moon Popcorn wants to grow with the community by taking requests and feedback on new flavors it can offer. The Yorks want Over the Moon Popcorn to be a spot for families to go to and make memories.
Over the Moon Popcorn is open seven days a weeks at 925 TX-80. Visit its Facebook page to keep up with Over the Moon Popcorn.