There is no caramel corn inside this Cracker Jax.

The treats inside, however, are more interesting than anything you would find in a little cardboard box.

Everything but the kitchen sink can be found inside Cracker Jax, located 118 N. Third St. in DeKalb.

Shop owner Lauren Woods lived in California for eight years and saw stores like hers everywhere. When she moved back to DeKalb, Woods opened her “boutique” because she thought DeKalb needed a store of this kind.

Jewelry is perhaps Cracker Jax’s biggest-selling item. Wigs and mustaches are hot items right now because of Halloween, Woods said.

A common question most customers usually ask Woods is, “Where do you get this stuff?”

Merchandise, old as well as new, is bought from everywhere, and when people find interesting things, they let Woods know, she said.

“I try to follow trends,” Woods said about the clothing and jewelry. She subscribes to many fashion magazines to keep up with the latest fashions.

Many people come to the store looking to replace broken items or objects they no longer have, or simply to match a set of dishes, for example.

Amy Davis, an NIU student and part-time worker at Cracker Jax, said many students, as well as people from the community, come in to shop or browse.

The most unusual happening Davis recalled was when someone called the store in search of a sheep costume. “That’s about the weirdest,” she said.

Woods said even though mostly women come into the boutique, more men come to Cracker Jax now looking for hats and coats.

The name of the store was the brainchild of Woods and her sister. “My sister helped me with it because we were trying to think of a name. Like a person who gets it right, does a cracker-jack job; also because there are surprises in it,” Woods said.