Burbank's Horror-Movie Snack Shop Is Coming to San Pedro

Owner Erick Wessel, a former chef, signed a lease for a smaller outpost at Wunderkammer, at the Port of L.A.

The Burbank shop that sells the stovetop popcorn Drew Barrymore heats at the start of "Scream" is getting a little sibling in San Pedro.

Erick Wessel, who owns the Horror Boodega on Magnolia Boulevard, has signed a lease for a smaller outpost at Wunderkammer, at the Port of L.A., with an opening planned later this year, the Los Angeles Times reported. The Burbank original has been open since late 2024. It's a horror- and sci-fi-themed convenience store with zombie Takis on the shelves and zom-berry Ghoul-Aid in the fridge.

It was supposed to be a restaurant. Wessel cooked professionally in Cleveland and then around L.A. into his early 30s, the Times reported. He spent six years hunting for a space a few doors from his other shop, the Mystic Museum. Securing the lease took all of his savings and left nothing to build a full kitchen, so he scaled down to a snack shop that borrows from old candy stores and video rental counters.

The shelves swing with the calendar. The store may carry only 200 items in the off-season and as many as 2,000 in the fall, including Boo Bars, the chocolate line from horror director John Carpenter. "I have to make sure that, being the horror-themed convenience store, I find it and carry it," Wessel told the Times. Halloween season brings in a little more than twice the store's usual revenue.

The giant sculptures came from old Mystic Museum exhibits, Chucky among them. A hidden button near the "Alien" wall sets off an alarm modeled on the self-destruct warning aboard the Nostromo, the ship from that film.

Wessel thinks the Boodega may be the first store of its kind in the world, based on the trademark filings for his business. It sits on a stretch of Magnolia that locals call "Horror Row," where a handful of shops sell spooky goods year-round. The shop is at 3116 W. Magnolia Blvd. and closes at 7 p.m. on the days it's open.

The restaurant hasn't gone anywhere. Wessel told the Times it's still a goal.

Source: latimes.com, retrieved October 3, 2026.