An iconic Birmingham peanut business whose story goes back to 1907 is expanding into Tuscaloosa.

The Alabama Peanut Company – an institution on Birmingham’s historic Morris Avenue – will open its first shop outside the Magic City in downtown Tuscaloosa later this year, Alabama Peanut Company owner Jaime Thursby told AL.com today.

The new shop should open by September in the former Filling Station space at 411 23rd Ave. in Tuscaloosa’s Temerson Square area, Thursby said.

“We’ve been looking for a second location for a while now, and everything kind of came back to Tuscaloosa for us,” he said. “It checked all the boxes – strong community; good, vibrant downtown.

“The main thing was tradition, kind of like the tradition on Morris Avenue that we created,” he added. “We’re hoping to create that same tradition in Tuscaloosa.”

RELATED: Keeping an Alabama peanut tradition alive on Birmingham’s Morris Avenue

Famous for its roasted and boiled peanuts, the Alabama Peanut Company moved into the former Peanut Depot space on Birmingham’s Morris Avenue in 2018.

But the shop’s history goes all the way back to 1907, when Greek immigrant D.J. Cassimus began selling candy and peanuts on Morris Avenue in what was then called the Terminal Candy Kitchen.

The roasted 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.

Since moving into the old Peanut Depot, Thursby has carried on and expanded upon that tradition, adding boiled peanuts to the mix, including such Alabama-centric flavors as Wickles Pickles, Dreamland Bar-B-Que, Milo’s and Buffalo Rock Ginger Ale.

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The Tuscaloosa space became available when the Filling Station sports bar closed in late January after 20 years in business.

“I got to go down and look at it, and it was perfect,” Thursby said. “It was pretty much the same footprint of the Peanut Depot building. Right when I saw it, I had the same feeling of, ‘This is it.’”

Like the Birmingham location, the Tuscaloosa shop will serve canned beers and bottled soft drinks in addition to its selection of roasted and boiled peanuts, Thursby said. Thursby hopes it will be a gathering place, not just a grab-and-go spot.

“We recently put in a 30-foot bar with Alabama marble countertops in the Morris Avenue location, and we have seating there now,” he said. “We hope to replicate the same kind of feel and vibe in Tuscaloosa.”