Peanut, popcorn shop expands to recapture Columbia’s heart
People know the peanuts.
They’re roasted, honey roasted, boiled, salted and caramelized. There are pecans and cashews — peanuts shelled and salted.
Then, there’s the popcorn: big batches and small bags, drizzled with white and dark chocolate, or salted and spiced with jalapeno powder and parmesan cheese.
Cromer’s, tagged with its candy apple red logo, has handled Columbia’s peanuts and popcorn for 78 years. A South Carolina farmer, Julian Cromer started at Assembly Street’s Curb Market in 1935 with just peanuts.
His booth was set up next to a competing peanut vendor who swore that he, not Cromer, had the best peanuts in town. The competing peanut man went so far as to make a sign that pointed to Cromer’s booth and read “worst in town.”
Cromer had a sense of humor. From then on, he wouldn’t have the worst peanuts, he would have the “guaranteed worst.”
In the 1930s, Cromer’s owned Columbia. Everyone knew Julian, “The Peanut Man,” and today, the company is working to reclaim that spot.
Now in its third generation of Cromer, it is a completely female-owned and -managed business.
The city knows Cromer’s: Its cotton candy and popcorn are stocked at the state fair and sold every Saturday and Sunday at Columbia’s farmers markets. But few know about the Cromer’s building.
On Huger Street, just before the ramp to I-26, Cromer’s sits in front of Codgill Carpets. Hundreds drive by every day, but not as many have stopped to explore the little slice of wonder that is the peanut and popcorn emporium.
Big, full barrels of penny candy, Skittles and caramels form a line down the center of the store. It is all pick and mix for $3.49 per half pound.
There is a bouquet of pink, orange and purple swirled lollipops — the ones you only thought lived in the land of Willy Wonka — and giant bags of golden yellow, popped popcorn the size of Santa’s sack of presents.
The smells are divine, a salty and sweet savor for your nostrils.
Employees at the Aflac and AT&T building just across the road cross the street come just for the fresh-popped popcorn smell, said Robin Coleman, who’s worked as a sales associate at Cromer’s for three years. The tuxedo monkey munch, covered in caramel and white and dark chocolate drizzle, is her favorite flavor.
That’s the beauty of the shop: Everything is made in the back warehouse, attached to the retail building. There are vats of grease where they bread and deep-fry corn dogs, and popcorn poppers where they fill the bags with one of the company’s signature treats. All of the peanuts are roasted and boiled back there, too.
Cromer’s values its craftsmanship, said Agata Chydzinski, the executive director of marketing, retail and finance.
Wade Lann, known as Mr. Wade in the shop, has been boiling Cromer’s peanuts for over 40 years. Marie Crowell, who has been working at the company for almost 30 years, has just started sharing her homemade, mustard-based barbecue with the shop’s lunchtime crowd.
The peanut- and popcorn-makers have long had a Monday lunch special: two hotdogs, chips and a drink for $5.59. But in the past year, Cromer’s has added a lunch special for each day of the week, from nachos to corn dogs. On Fridays, Crowell makes her barbecue sandwiches, with chips and a drink for $5.99.
It has also partnered with Mathias Sandwich Shop on St. Andrews Road, which has been around since 1942, for its Wednesday special, and hopes to start carrying DiPrato’s pimento cheese, Chydzinski said.
The lunch specials are available all day, except corn dog day on Tuesdays. The staff has to cut the grease off at 2 p.m.
So, there’s lunch and there’s candy. There’s popcorn, peanuts, birthday balloons and king crowns. But, as of November, there’s a coffee shop.
“It’s like a college kid’s paradise,” Coleman said.
Jamestown Coffee Company, based in Lexington, S.C., opened in the back right corner of Cromer’s. Its first location opened in Lexington three years ago, but the Cromer’s counter is now the company’s only open shop.
The owner of Jamestown, James Kirk, was born and raised in South Carolina, but lived in Seattle as an adult. He loved the coffee bar feel and designed Jamestown with the same notion and a Southern flair, said Brandon Wilks, the manager of Jamestown’s Cromer’s location.
It is a coffee shop, with free Wi-Fi and free parking. The free parking was a big selling point, noted by Chydzinski, Coleman and Wilks.
The coffee is also sourced from Columbia and Charleston roasters, and Jamestown brings in its pastries and baked goods from local bakehouses whenever possible.
The shop is quirky. A chalkboard by the front register has a particularly talented sketch of Bilbo that reads, “Make a Hobbit of visiting us!” There’s also another board with a hand-drawn ad for “winter fantasy coffee,” endorsed by Christopher Walken. Mismatched armchairs separate the cafe from the peanut displays, and a black-and-white tiled floor stretch across an open workspace.
Jamestown’s speciality drinks are spot on. The Gamecock, a raspberry and dark chocolate mocha, is rich and delicious. The shop’s signature drink, however, is the Palmetto Pecan Latte. It is best paired with the pimento cheese and bacon bagel, served all day.
When Cromer’s brought in Jamestown, it wanted to continue the tradition of Columbia-based business. It is a company rooted in this city and rooted in its tradition.
It wants to make Cromer’s, once again, a Columbia name.