My friends Dennis and Mary Pat were in town this past weekend for the Memphis Marathon. While they were here, they did some Christmas shopping, and reminded me of a very good place to pick up quality, inexpensive gifts: the Peanut Shop on Main Street.
I’ve shopped there in the past for gifts to take home with me to Little Rock. They have a huge selection of nuts, chocolates, and candy, and can package your purchases in decorative tins. The people who run the shop are SO nice; they still ask about my mother four years after I first shopped there for a gift for her. They’re known to remember people’s names a year later. If you want to support a Downtown neighborhood business that has been part of the community for years and years, it would be hard to think of a better one than the Peanut Shop.
This would be a great place to go if you’re a small business owner and you need to send out small holiday gifts to your most valued customers.
The shop is open until 5 weekdays, and (I think) 5:30 Saturdays. Closed Sundays. It’s located on the Main Street Mall between Madison and Monroe, next to Court House Deli and across from Brinkley Plaza and Felicia Suzanne’s.
In other news: My friends Dennis and Mary Pat told me the marathon raised a whopping $2.8 million for St. Jude. I know it’s a little inconvenient to have streets closed and people screaming at AutoZone Park at 7 AM, but you know what? If it raises almost three million for sick kids it’s worth it.
If you’re on Twitter, be careful when clicking on goo.gl shortened links the next few days – it’s a malware attack. More details here.
Big game on ESPN tonight: The #14 Memphis Tigers take on the #4 Kansas Jayhawks in the Jimmy V Classic. I hope the Tigers bring their A-game tonight and have learned how to rebound in the past couple of days. A win vs. Kansas would look real good to the NCAA tournament committee in March.
I’ll be at trivia at the Saucer (7 PM start time), but will be very distracted by the game. Usually I stand on the rail facing the trivia guy (whoever it is this week, Pete or Mikey), but this week I may have to stand on the opposite side of the rail so I can look at a TV. Go Tigers!