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The Peanut Patch Gift Shoppe has reopened its doors eight-and-a-half months after tornado damage forced it to temporarily close, and while customers can expect a healthy dose of the familiar, there will also be some new branding, with local products to explore.

The shop held its soft reopening April 20, marking the first time the building was open for business since the tornado came to its location at 27478 Southampton Parkway in Courtland back on Aug. 4, 2020.

Peanut Patch Manager Jeneen Dimick described finally being able to operate out of the building again as awesome.

“When we shut down back in August, we did some sidewalk sales and things like that, but just to be back inside here, selling our peanuts from these walls, it’s just great, and being able to fellowship with our customers, that’s been the biggest thing too,” she said.

Summing up the time since the tornado hit, Dimick said, “It’s been a long eight months.”

Explaining what the tornado did to The Peanut Patch’s physical location, she said it broke up the business’ fence, it took out both columns on its front porch, it took out front windows, including the bay window, it caused some structural damage and took out the shop’s HVAC system.

Repairs and replacements have been made, and work has also been continuing on the roof and on the building’s metal siding, which is being replaced, Dimick said.

However, The Peanut Patch has not used its extended closure to simply repair and replace, but it has also undertaken some renovation.

Dimick noted the interior of the shop features a brand new floor and freshly painted walls.

“We’ve had time to rebrand too and to think about where we want to go for the future, but we’re always a peanut company first,” she said.

The Peanut Patch is branded on its Facebook page as a unique gift shop that also offers gourmet foods and the world’s best peanuts — Feridies.

“Back in 1973 when The Peanut Patch first opened its doors, it started off with consignment items, and we were downtown Courtland then,” Dimick said. “As we were (closed recently) and you think about COVID and all these things that were going on, we said, ‘We want to change the direction that we’re going in.’”

She said The Peanut Patch leadership wanted the shop’s customers to have a shopping experience different from anything along Route 58 locally or in Southampton County or in the City of Franklin.

“We want you to come here and still be able to find that one-of-a-kind piece that we’ve always been known for, but we wanted to do it through our local artisans and other artisans across Virginia,” she said. 

And The Peanut Patch has made this change of direction happen.

“Since we’ve been open Tuesday, just about every purchase that has come across our countertop has been from a local artisan here in the county or the City of Franklin or in Virginia itself, so that’s where we’re getting back to our roots,” Dimick said April 23. 

She added that the shop has also picked up a lot more Virginia-based food items.

As of May 3, The Peanut Patch was open Tuesday-Saturday from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

“We will definitely update everybody once we change those hours,” Dimick said. “Since we’ve been closed for so long, for the eight months, we decided on those hours just going forward for right now. We’ll see how that takes us, and then we know as we get into the busier time of the year, we’re going to be changing it.”

She said that more than likely, the shop will be adding more days of the week rather than going to less.