Mr. Popcorn Man
By Brian Yost
Everyone loves popcorn.
Well … nearly everyone loves popcorn of some sort and Popcorn Monkey on Middleburg’s West Federal Street offers popcorn of nearly every type and flavor. I recently dropped by the new store to see what I could learn about this positive addition to the town’s business district.
Popcorn Monkey is really a success story. As an entrepreneur, Tone Moore is a repeat offender. In earlier incarnations, Moore said, he “was a personal trainer, serviced salt-water tanks and sold custom hydraulics.”
Tone and Mickey Moore inside their new store. Photo by Brian Yost.
That was all before arriving in Middleburg and opening his current business. When asked how he ended up in Northern Virginia in the popcorn business, Moore responded, “If you think about what we do in good and bad times, we eat. I always had a love for [popcorn] at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. There was just something about it, with my face up against that machine. It was just kind of magical.”
He continued by pointing out, “I wanted something that was fun.”
“Anyone can buy stuff online, but the experience of coming in, tasting and coming back for refills is what people want.”
As for the decision to move to Middleburg, Tone and his wife, Mickey, were exploring the local area with an eye toward relocating from their home in northern Ohio. Describing the drive along The Plains Road, Moore called it “breathtaking.”
“It was fall,” he went on to say, “and I almost drove off the road. It was unreal.”
Later, as he and his wife began walking around Middleburg, he went on to say, “Everyone we met on the street said hello. I felt embraced here.”
Then, after vending popcorn at his first Christmas in Middleburg parade, Moore sold $1,000 worth of popcorn and ran out of product. “The rest,” he said, “was history.”
Popcorn of nearly every flavor. Photo by Eryn Gable.
Following its official opening in Middleburg in 2013, Popcorn Monkey staffed a kiosk at FedEx Field, where they sell popcorn at Redskins games, and began supplying Mercedes-Benz of Chantilly with snack bags. Its products can now also be found at the newly opened Gentle Harvest store in Marshall. “We were looking at opening in Leesburg,” Moore explained, “but Middleburg is the home base.”
The business quickly outgrew the original basement space on East Federal Street and moved to its current location on the corner of Pendleton and West Federal in October.
Like many Middleburg businesses, Popcorn Monkey is a family enterprise. “My sister is working a booth at the Aldie duck race,” Moore pointed out, and “my daughter designed the logo.”
The store is filled with color and texture. Photo by Brian Yost.
As we talked, his wife, Mickey, was managing the counter downstairs as a constant stream of customers flowed in and out of the building. The business is obviously popular.
“Anyone can buy stuff online,” Moore was quick to point out, “but the experience of coming in, tasting and coming back for refills is what people want.” More than once when Moore was trying to leave the shop at the end of a busy day, customers would continue to assail him
calling, “Mr. Popcorn Man, Mr. Popcorn Man.”
The business is clearly filling a popular niche. After all …
Everyone loves popcorn. ML
Popcorn Monkey: Open Wednesday-Friday and Sunday 11 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturday 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; 101 W. Federal St., Middleburg, VA 20117; 540-687-6539; popcornmonkeyllc.com.