For the second project in our web design class, I'll be researching, wireframing, and developing a website for one of my favorite (and OK, entirely fictional, but have fun with this) popcorn shops in the area:
Pop's Corn Emporium, in the historic downtown section of Geneva.
Now before we delve into design details, it's good to know the history of how Pop's Corn came to be, so let's check out Pop's history...
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Around the turn of the 20th century, Gilbert and Rosemary St. Germaine owned an expansive farm in northeastern DeKalb County, Illinois, northeast of the town of Sycamore. While Sycamore was known in those times as a manufacturing center - among Sycamore's early industries were Marsh Harvester Manufacturing, R. Ellwood Manufacturing, and Sycamore Preserve Works - the St. Germaines knew one thing, and one thing well... how to grow corn.
Gilbert and Rosemary's vast knowledge of growing different varieties of corn in DeKalb County was extremely helpful to other farmers in the area, and the St. Germaines were more than happy to share their expertise in farming matters to their neighbors. While many local farmers at that time would keep their secrets, well, secrets, Gilbert and Rosemary wanted the whole region to prosper, and prosper it did.
With the creation of the DeKalb County Farm Bureau in 1912, one of the first organizations of its kind, the entire corn crowing region of DeKalb County grew and strengthened, and the St. Germaines were at the heart of it. Little did they know that their generosity would be repaid in a huge way a few decades later.
While the husband and wife shared their planting, harvesting and reaping rewards with others, they did hold on to one family secret that, at the time, was just thought of as a nice hobby. The St. Germaines made absolutely the best popcorn around, and despite the best efforts of other household farmers to duplicate the texture, aroma, and taste of the St. Germaine's tasty treat, they couldn't match it.
I wasn't until 1932, during the Great Depression, that Gilbert opened up a small seed store in downtown Sycamore, as he had to try to bring in a little extra money to help his farm survive the harsh times. The locals, remembering how generous the St. Germaines were in divulging their farming secrets decades earlier, came in droves to help out Gilbert and Rosemary's small store, and what came to be their biggest seller, by far, were not the seed corn for the livestock, or the other typical corn-based products of the time, but the tins of flavored popcorn that gave the entire block this incredible aroma. There was no need to advertise, as the sweet, wafting smell of freshly popped corn floated throughout the town, pulling both locals and visitors by the bushel to the small seed store in downtown Sycamore.
By 1938, the success of the store demanded a larger location, so Gilbert and Rosemary went to Geneva, Illinois and opened up Pop's Corn Emporium, right at the very location where it sits today. To their wonderful surprise, many of the Geneva locals had taken a trip or two out to Sycamore to sample some of the St. Germaine tins of puffy deliciousness, so Gilbert and Rosemary felt like they had a second home in downtown Geneva. And despite opportunity after opportunity for three generations of St. Germaines to expand their Emporium to a statewide or national brand, the family decision has always been to keep just the one store in Geneva and keep their products home grown, home manufactured, and home sold.
And for over 80 years, this business model has worked just fine for the St. Germaine family... but other popcorn companies have started to creep into the area. For generation after generation the Kane and DeKalb County families were solid pro-Pop's consumers, but now they were starting to turn away and check out other companies, from local competitors such as the Kernal Fabyan's stores, to ordering online from national chains such as the Garrett Popcorn shops of Chicago.
So William St. Germaine - great-grandchild of Gilbert and Rosemary and current owner of Pop's Corn Emporium - is looking to establish a foothold in the digital retail market... it's time to start up Pop's Corn Emporium on the web!
BUSINESS TYPE
Pop's Corn Emporium is a locally grown, locally manufactured, and locally loved store in Geneva, Illinois, specializing in gourmet popcorn, treating the area of downtown Geneva with aromatic delights since 1938. The focus here is on the flavor, as Pop's currently carries around a dozen different flavors of popcorn, with the occasional holiday-themed flavors and tins. We should try and get Pop's to expand their holiday options, as that's a PRIME retail opportunity that's not as strong at Pop's could be.
GENERAL CLIENT INFORMATION & LOCATION
In the past, Pop's could rely on generations of area families to continue buying their gourmet popcorn, but with other gourmet shops encroaching into Kane and DeKalb county, it's time for Pop's to reach out to once used to be their solid base of consumers and remind them once again of the local ties that made this company so well loved for so long. The first and foremost plan is to bring back the locals first, and then expand on that homespun devotion to enter the Chicago market and compete against the likes of Garrett. Right now Garrett only has one Chicagoland store west of downtown, and that's at O' Hare airport, so the entire western Chicagoland area can be explored as possible areas to focus. Pop's believes that its signature aroma can bring in ANY customer, but the trick here is how to interpret that aroma onto a website and bring in the crowds, not just to its Geneva store, but to the very real possibility of opening up a chain of stores in the far western Chicago burbs (Wheaton, Naperville, and Elgin, to name a few).
Remember, first Pop's wants to bring back the locals and strengthen those ties, and then the following step is to enter new ground and new possibilities into major western Chicagoland markets. At this point in time there are no plans to enter downtown Chicago with any storefronts, as Pop's wants to attract the likes of Naperville and Wheaton first. But we're getting a little ahead of ourselves here, as we need to stick with the website first and try to find out on the site if and when the online demand from customers in the western burbs warrants expansion into actual storefronts and branch locations.
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