When's the last time you went to The Peanut Shoppe for a bag of freshly roasted peanuts? Hmm. Yeah, me, too. A reader sent me a reminder and I stopped by the Summer Avenue store this week. Who knew you could get boiled peanuts there? Not that I did; I am no fan, but I sure did enjoy the peanuts roasted in the shell.

Photo by Jennifer Biggs

The old peanut roaster at The Peanut Shoppe on Summer. They still use it every day.

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Both shops -- the one on Summer and the one on Main Downtown, have more than peanuts. On Summer you can get a snow cone; Downtown, an Italian ice. Both carry candy and popcorn and sell the popular combo of candy corn and red-skinned peanuts.

"A lot of older women want the candy corn mixed with Spanish peanuts," said Karen Polomski at the Summer store. "They say their mothers used to make it for them all the time."

Rida Abuzaineh, who owns the Downtown store with his wife, Ameerah, said he can tell when it's time to place an order for everything based on the candy corn inventory.

Peanuts in the shell are roasted fresh daily in the old roasters, and other nuts such as pecans, cashews and Brazil nuts also get an in-store heat salting.

--Jennifer Biggs: 529-5223

The Peanut Shoppe at 4305 Summer is open 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 1-7 p.m. on Sunday. Call 682-1404 for more information. The Downtown store is at 23 S. Main and is open 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday. Call 525-1115.