Urban-style peanut shop heads for Boise corridor 

A peanut store?

Dan Balluff envisions City Peanut Shop, to open in mid-October at 803 W. Bannock St. in downtown Boise’s Block 44, as similar to a long-successful shop in Lansing, Mich., where he grew up.

“People who have been in the Midwestern and Eastern cities are very familiar with these shops,” he said. “It’s kind of a cultural thing. They patronize these shops on a regular basis. It’s part of the urban, city life.”

Big-name peanut companies once used the shops to market their offerings in an era before fast-food restaurants and grocery store prepared-meal departments, Balluff said. Some of the shops live on, in the hands of entrepreneurs.

Tammy Melser and her sister, Glenda Osterhouse, own The Peanut Shop in Michigan’s capital city. The shop has been in business for nearly 73 years. Their father worked for Planters and ultimately bought the shop from that company.

“When Planters opened them, even when malls started opening, they put them downtown where there is heavy foot traffic,” Melser said of the Planters-owned shops.

Small orders from many customers – including the large population of office workers in the immediate area – often will drive The Peanut Shop’s business during the week, she said. Saturdays often bring larger individual sales, she said.

Freshness is another key to success. “We cook everything right here on-premises, and do small amounts every day,” Melser said. The shop’s owners do not buy pre-cooked items from wholesalers.

But is Boise ready for a specialty nut shop? Many shops selling food, drinks and other consumables reflecting the trend of the day have come and gone in downtown Boise in the past 15 years.

“I would not have done it five years ago,” said the 53-year-old Balluff, who came to Boise in 1981 and retired from Hewlett-Packard’s operations here.

Downtown Boise thrives enough to support City Peanut, and has held up in the recession better than many parts of the metro area, he said. Neighboring businesses tap the gourmet food market, which bodes well for City Peanut, he added.

David Baum is managing member of Chicago-based Baum Bros. LLC, which owns Block 44. The block is bordered by Eighth, Ninth, Idaho and Bannock streets. Bannock is the block’s north boundary, facing toward the state Capitol but away from the downtown Boise core.

“I would concur that downtown Boise continues to evolve and become a more vibrant market,” he said. “I think it will continue to happen, although with a little hiccup because of the macroeconomic conditions we have now.”

A specialty shop can draw people to Block 44’s Bannock Street side that offers shade trees, brick pavers and a pedestrian-friendly environment overall, Baum said. One of his goals is for shoppers to “get away from the car mentality. I love the fact that you see more bikes than cars in Boise.”

Block 44 owners envision City Peanut as part of a gourmet-food destination on the Bannock side of the block, where The Chocolat Bar and Pottery Gourmet – recently expanded to offer culinary classes – operate already, he said. The location is close to farmer’s market venues.

“I am working with a couple of other similar tenants that would fit will within the block,” Baum said.

City Peanut figures to attract downtown workers, and students of nearby Boise High School, Balluff said. He expects gifts and specialty items to appeal to destination shoppers.

He obtained Midwest-made equipment including a peanut roaster that replicates a 1938 model but has modern components, a caramel corn maker, a pralinator – for glazing – and a machine that produces fresh popcorn. He has ordered a peanut butter grinder.

Offerings at City Peanut will include cashews, pecans, walnuts, tree nuts and seeds, and dry- and oil-roasted peanuts – all roasted daily – and peanut butter sandwich kits. The kits will feature freshly baked bread and a choice of peanut butter made in the shop. Drinks and hard candy also will be sold.

“The key is to pipe the smell out onto the street,” Balluff said.

For City Peanut, he enlisted local designers to develop the store logo and 1,180-square-foot interior layout. He used the City of Boise’s fast-track program for securing permits. The program works well for the business person who is prepared, he said.

Boise planners, through the city’s pilot Downtown Development Coordination Program, assign the business operator a project coordinator who determines what applications must be filed, assists the operator in identifying potential design or code conflicts, and sets up meetings to resolve conflicts when necessary, the city’s Web site states.

The program aims to better assist small businesses doing tenant improvements or other projects that may not qualify for the city’s existing project management program, the site reads.

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