One thing that has really disappointed me about Chicagoland is the absence of places to get freshly roasted nuts. Toledo has the Bassett Nut Company and Columbus has the Krema Nut Company.

Chicago has lots of places to get nuts, like Nuts On Clark, but they don't talk about their roasting facilities, which leads me to believe they just buy their already-roasted nuts from a supplier out of state and resell them. I want to smell the roasters as I am buying my nuts!

Chicago is home to John B. Sanfilippo & Son, which you know better as Fisher Nuts. I enjoy their nuts, we just bought a five-pound bag of peanuts in the shell a couple weeks ago, but it is not the same as buying them right next to where they are roasted.

Well I may have found the next best thing. Fisher Nuts has two thrift stores in their production facilities. I just called and they are open on Saturdays from 9 AM until 4 PM. We are going to take a drive up there this weekend and see if the nuts are any fresher than what we can buy in the store.

They have two thrift stores located about three miles from each other. The main, and larger, store is located:

1717 Arthur Avenue
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007
847-871-6662
(Their website lists the address as 2299 Busse Rd. The two locations are on the same block.)

The other smaller store is located:

300 E Touhy Avenue
Des Plaines, IL 60018
847-298-1510