The enticing aroma of roasted peanuts wafts along the cobblestone street of downtown Birmingham's Morris Avenue.

It is a scent that is nearly impossible to resist.

"The first roast comes out in the morning, and I turn my fans on and that (smell) is my advertisement," says John Cassimus, the most recent caretaker of the peanut shop that his grandfather started in 1907. "On any given day, it might go to the east, or it might go to the west, or it might go straight up and go to First Avenue.

"That brings my customers from different parts of the city, depending on which way the wind blows."

Cassimus, a retired metallurgical engineer and the grandson of Peanut Depot founder D.J. Cassimus, hopes that smell never goes away.

To him, the old peanut shop is as much a part of the history and culture of the Magic City as Vulcan, Rickwood Field or the Alabama Theatre.

That's why, two years ago, he came out of retirement to fire up the roasters again after the previous tenant moved out and left Morris Avenue temporarily without a peanut vendor.

"I didn't want to let it die," Cassimus, who owns the building at 2016 Morris Ave., says. "I said, 'I'm just going to be a good steward of it until I can find somebody to take it over and keep it open.'

"It's such an important part of Birmingham. So many people who are in their 80s and 90s come in that came here as children. I just can't let it go."

After two years, Cassimus has now found that next steward to carry on his grandfather's legacy.

He is turning the keys over to Jaime Thursby, a former regional sales rep for New Balance shoes who launched the Alabama Peanut Co. about a year-and-a-half ago.

"I joke with people that moving into this place is like I learned to play the guitar two years ago, and now I've been handed the keys to the Grand Ole Opry," Thursby says. "There's a lot of pressure to make it perfect."

Cassimus -- who says he is often confused with, but only distantly related to, the John Cassimus who is the former CEO of Zoe's Kitchen -- trusts that his family's 111-year-old business will be in good hands.

"I've had a lot of people come by over the past two years that I just kind of wondered what their intentions were," he says. "Jaime had the right ideas and the right focus, and he had a business already together, a successful business."

The original Peanut Depot moved to this location in 1951, and since 2016, this building has been home to the Peanut Place. In May 2018, the Alabama Peanut Co. moved into the building, which is at 2016 Morris Ave. in Birmingham. (Bob Carlton/bcarlton@al.com)

A craving for boiled peanuts

Thursby, whose parents own On a Shoestring antiques store in Bluff Park, came up with the idea to start a peanut business while at a thrift market one weekend about a year and a half ago.

"I wanted boiled peanuts, and I couldn't find them anywhere," he recalls. "I was like, 'Why aren't there boiled peanuts all around town? We're in the South. They should be really easy to find.'"

So, along with his brother-in-law, Darrell Graf, Thursby tested a few recipes, and they started making their own boiled peanuts, selling them at farmers markets, breweries and pop-ups around Birmingham.

"It was kind of a hit, and we just kept doing it every weekend," Thursby says. "We got busier and busier. We weren't that serious about it at first, but I thought we might have something here.

"We came up with the name Alabama Boiled Peanut Co., and we got all of the logos made and started printing T-shirts and it all started to come together."

They got into the Southern Makers festival at Sloss Furnaces last summer and began selling at The Market at Pepper Place this spring.

As they move into their new home on Morris Avenue, Thursby and Graf have shortened the name of their company to Alabama Peanut Co., dropping the "boiled" to reflect that they will also sell the roasted peanuts that made the original Peanut Depot famous.

"I wasn't a real fan of boiled peanuts," Cassimus admits. "I grew up all my life eating roasted peanuts, but we've always carried (boiled peanuts) because we're in the peanut business. I never liked doing them, and I never had a good recipe. And Jaime has brought that to the business."

Alabama Peanut Co. offers traditional salty boiled peanuts, as well as specialty flavors such as Sriracha-lime, Cajun, jalapeno, Bloody Mary and a Dale's steak sauce blend.

The roasted peanuts available at the shop include plain, salted and Cajun. The plain peanuts are roasted in-house, while the salted and Cajun peanuts come from a supplier in Virginia, Cassimus says.

This is one of two roasters that go back to the days when D.J. Cassimus started the Peanut Depot more than a century ago and are still in use today. (Bob Carlton/bcarlton@al.com)

111 years of history on Morris Avenue

D.J. Cassimus, who immigrated to Birmingham from Greece, began selling candy and peanuts on Morris Avenue in 1907 in what was then called the Terminal Candy Kitchen, so named because of its proximity to the old L&N Station railroad terminal at the corner of Morris and 20th Street.

The peanuts proved more popular than the candy, and in 1924, Cassimus got out of the candy business and changed the name of his store to the Peanut Depot. At one time, he also operated a couple of other peanut shops around Birmingham.

His son, Alex Cassimus, began working at the Peanut Depot as a teenager in 1931, and after serving in World War II, took over the family business and operated it until he retired in 1986, according to John Cassimus.

In 1951, Alex Cassimus moved the Peanut Depot about 100 feet west of its original location into its current spot at 2016 Morris Avenue. Originally the home of Caldwell Printing Works, the building dates to 1885.

As a kid, John Cassimus used to go down to the Peanut Depot and help his Uncle Alex bag peanuts before football games at Legion Field.

"We've survived all of the ups and downs," Cassimus says. "My grandfather survived the Great Depression. He had three peanut shops prior to the Great Depression, and this is the last surviving one that dates to him."

After Alex Cassimus retired, a succession of owners outside of the Cassimus family operated the Peanut Depot for about 30 years, the most recent being Lex Legate, who moved out after his lease expired in 2016, John Cassimus says. Legate first relocated to the Parkview area near Regions Field, and his business is currently on Messer Airport Highway.

Since Legate owns the brand name Peanut Depot, the Morris Avenue shop operated under the name the Peanut Place for the past two years.

"My dad used to call it 'the peanut place' back in the day," Cassimus says. "For some reason, he didn't like the last name 'depot.' So, I just said I'd call it the Peanut Place."

Within about a week, Thursby hopes to install a new sign officially rebranding the business as the Alabama Peanut Co., and he plans a grand opening in June.

While in Birmingham to promote his book "Goober in a Nutshell," George "Goober" Lindsey of "The Andy Griffith Show" posed for this picture at the Peanut Depot on Morris Avenue. (Birmingham News file/Bernard Troncale)

'Goober' Lindsey and Jimmy Carter

At one time, the peanuts roasted on Morris Avenue were sold not only at Legion Field and the Birmingham Zoo, but also at the Superdome in New Orleans and Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas, according to Cassimus and newspaper archives.

Celebrity guests who have visited the peanut shop over the years include the late George "Goober" Lindsey from "The Andy Griffith Show" and former president and Georgia peanut farmer Jimmy Carter, as well as the Travel Channel's globetrotting Andrew Zimmern, Cassimus says.

Today, he says, clients include youth and high-school sports teams, charity groups, street vendors and walk-in customers who drop by throughout the day to buy bags of peanuts hot out of the roaster.

"We get people from all over, from Australia, England, Germany, Japan," Cassimus says. "I can't tell you how much fun it's been the past two years."

Thursby plans to honor the peanut shop's history, as well as build on it.

"To me, it's like a dream opportunity," he says. "It has everything in place to build the ultimate Southern brand. You have the history that his grandfather created, and he's carried on. You have an iconic building. You have the iconic peanut."

Thursby is incorporating the slogan "Made on Morris" with his branding, and he plans to add bar stools and a counter to encourage customers to stick around and sip bottled Coca-Colas and eat peanuts while they watch as they are roasted and boiled. Alabama Peanut Co. T-shirts and burlap bags of peanuts will be available in a souvenir shop.

"We get so many people from out of town," Cassimus says, "and Jaime has ideas for incorporating more things for tourists and trying to give them a good, Southern experience."

Thursby signed a lease on the building earlier this month, and during the transition, Cassimus has been teaching him the art of roasting peanuts in the cast-iron roasters that go back more than to when Cassimus' grandfather started the business over a century ago.

"It's not as complicated as roasting coffee," Cassimus says, "but there is an art to it."

And, oh, that smell -- an enduring reminder of the days when Morris Avenue was a bustling market district.

"Morris Avenue has always been a street of smells," Cassimus says. "Fresh roasted coffee, the fish market, A.C. Legg spice company, even the horses.

"We're the last surviving smell on Morris Avenue, you might say. It's a good smell."