Gift  The Peanut Shoppe

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the city received daily calls about one business in particular. The calls kept coming in nearly daily for eight months.

“The city was getting calls every day, ‘When is the Peanut Shoppe coming back?’” Marge Klein, the current owner of the historic Akron store said.

Not getting a satisfactory answer from the city, their next step was to call Klein directly.

“So, they call me, and I say, ‘Well, as soon as people can drive down the street and we can walk down the sidewalk without concrete being every which way,’” she said.

The combination of the pandemic and road and sidewalk construction made it nearly impossible for foot traffic to enter the store.

Once the construction and COVID-19 were no longer a concern, the city pitched in to help the Peanut Shoppe reopen.

Was it because of the daily calls? We may never know. 

Klein was able to apply for and receive grants along with many other downtown businesses that allowed her to restock and reopen the Peanut Shoppe.

So why was the community so worried about the store?

Opened during the Great Depression as part of a chain of Planters peanut stores that spanned the country, the Peanut Shoppe of Akron is one of the few peanut shoppes left. The Akron community is clearly aware of how special it is to have an original peanut shoppe.

Since it opened in the 1930s, the Peanut Shoppe has seen many changes. One thing that hasn’t changed is the way the store is staffed by family and friends. 

Klein started working there in1980 after her father bought the store. When he passed, Klein took ownership in 1998.

With little experience running a store, Klein relied on other Peanut Shoppes in the country to learn.

“I could call on these people and ask them questions to help,” Klein said.

Klein recalls one time she needed the help of the owner of the Peanut Shoppe in Columbus. 

The Peanut Shoppe moved to its current location in 2003 when the city of Akron invited the store to move across from Lock 3.

“There were a lot of things that were grandfathered in the old building,” Klein said. “We had to figure out how to do things a little differently in the year 2003 compared to 1932.”

One thing that changed with the move was the piping for the roasters. 

In the original building, the roaster pipes led to outside the front of the shop. People could smell the roasted peanuts down the street, which brought them in the doors and made walking on main a sensory delight. 

When the store moved, it was not possible to build the pipes to lead outside. However, they do still use the same roasters from the 1930s.

Another thing that life-long customers miss are the original red bags with the Peanut Shoppe name. Once the stores became individually owned, the owner of the Baltimore Peanut Shoppe was in charge of ordering the bags.

 Unfortunately, the company that made the original bags stopped producing them. Since then, the store has used white bags.

“You don’t get everything when you want it, you have to be patient,” Klein said. “And so we have been patient, we’ve done everything we can.”

Now that the Peanut Shoppe is across from Lock 3, the store benefits from city events. Its current location means that people can walk to the store easily, even when the events are not held directly in Lock 3 and are instead down the road.

“The city wants to see us stay and keep going for how many more years,” Klein said.

Currently, the Peanut Shoppe is filled with history. Over the years, customers have given the store old pictures for Klein to hang on the walls. 

“We have people coming down from Cleveland that just sit here and look at all the pictures,” Klein said.

The original candy and peanut cases are still used. Inside, the smell of peanuts still comes from the original roasters. The store also features Mr. Peanut memorabilia. Statues and pictures are seen in abundance, most of which were gifted by customers.

“I always hear the little kids come in and go, ‘Look, there’s Mr. Peanut’,” Klein said.

The history of the Peanut Shoppe and the connection it has to the community is important to many people, including Klein. Her favorite thing about the history of this shop is seeing all the generations that love the store.

“Their grandparents came in, and then their parents came in, and now they’re coming in,” Klein said. “And now they’re coming in and they’re bringing their kids.”

According to Klein, the most popular menu items are honey roasted cashews, cinnamon pecans, cinnamon almonds, and salted cashews.

“Sometimes I’ll recommend mixed nuts and add some dried strawberries to them,” Klein said. “It’s like a sweet and saltiness.”

For those from the area, Klein recommends salted or unsalted peanuts in the shell. As for candy, she recommends the old-fashioned candies. For newcomers the cinnamon almonds, smoked almonds, honey cashew, and the party mix top the list. The Peanut Shoppe also makes their own peanut butter.

The store offers samples before customers buy. While ingredients are not listed up front, customers can ask in case of allergies.

The store offers gift cards and tins. The tins have different size inserts so that multiple types of candy and peanuts can be in one tin. The store will refill tins too.

As the snow thaws, come take a stroll downtown to support an Akron original and give your loved ones, friends or corporate clients the gift of roasted peanuts from Main Street.

And, if you ever hear that your favorite local legend has been closed temporarily due to construction, permits, codes, an untimely pandemic, or inflation, we hope that you will be one of those daily phone calls. 

It’s up to the community to put our hard-earned money directly back into our community by shopping local and looking out for our neighbors who work hard to keep downtown filled with nostalgia, history and, well, nuts.