THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 2, 1994 TAG: 9411020415
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
It survived the Great Depression, World War II, the rise and fall of Elvis and the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
But Tuesday, 69-year-old Nuts & More candy store itself became history.
Calvin Zedd and his son, Steve, auctioned all the fixtures and equipment still occupying 433 Granby St., a former Planters peanut store, which changed ownership and name in the '60s to Pandy's Peanuts.
Jim Hopson, the most recent owner of the store, lost his lease a few months ago. The Bank of the Commonwealth foreclosed on the store, said Dudley Cooper, who owns the property.
Hovering around the Granby Street landmark before the auction, neighboring merchants reminisced about the past while celebrating their own survival.
``We've survived the good times and the bad times,'' said Lucian Montagna, owner of Montagna's Shoes next door. ``This street is coming back. All we need is people on the street. . . . It just needs to be improved.''
Michael Concessi, a Virginia Beach chiropractor who attended the auction, attributed Granby Street's positive outlook to Tidewater Community College's plans for a campus there, more business investments and a greater presence by merchants already located on the commercial corridor.
Once full of pedestrians and retail shops, Granby Street has faded in recent years into a corridor of vacant buildings and blight. Plans for a three-story shopping mall, to be called MacArthur Center, and restoration of Norfolk's waterfront may spark a Granby Street renaissance.
Land speculators and businesses are already lining up leases and clients for the avenue. A new city hall annex and the TCC city campus there also are expected to help revive Norfolk's once-proud retail mecca.
``In a couple of years, this area is going to be great,'' Concessi said.
Cooper, a 95-year-old Norfolk businessman, has signed a tenant for the former Planters store. But he did not know for what purpose the tenant would use the building.
About 30 people attended the midmorning auction, to watch, to speculate or to remember. They recalled a costumed Mr. Peanut standing on the street, handing out peanuts. They spoke about paper peanuts hanging from the ceiling, crowds packing the shop during World War II.
Antiques dating back to the days Planters' founder, Amedeo Obici, operated his Norfolk peanut store still graced the dilapidated storefront: a plastic Mr. Peanut costume, a classic coffee urn, an antique peanut roaster - still functional.
Several of the antiques sold for a fraction of their modern value.
``It's a steal. It's a bargain,'' bellowed Robert Babb, jabbing his arm in the air after he'd outbid another man for the antique peanut roaster. The self-employed Suffolk businessman paid $2,500 - half the ``true value'' - for the roaster.
``I'm going to take it home and put it in my office for right now,'' Babb said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MOTOYA NAKAMURA/Staff
Steve Zedd auctions items at Nuts & More candy store on Tuesday.
by CNB