About the Peanut Man
Columbia (WLTX) -- Look no further than the streets of Downtown Columbia, where you are sure to find the vendor known as "The Peanut Man."
"Right in the middle of Main street, 'What are you doing here?'" Chris Hinely, the Peanut Man, is constantly asked by neighbors.
Hinely's mystery, much like his ware, is easy to crack.
He sells peanuts to the people of Columbia, daily yelling, "Peanuts, fresh hot boiled peanuts!"
"Well I think boiled peanuts are just a staple in the South," Chris says.
He was previously known as "Chris, The Software Salesman," that was until he lost his job in December.
"Not having any income, the main thing is, when you have no money coming in, and a wife and three children. She lost her job, so we had two people with no income, and I decided to jump right into the boiled peanut business," he explains.
Now, he's enjoying the smokey taste of growing his own business.
"People just aren't as crazy about purchasing software as they are about buying a bag of peanuts," Chris says. "Money's pretty good in peanuts, yeah. I mean, I'm not getting rich, but it's enough to pay the bills, put food on the table, and it gives me the flexibility to do a lot of things that I used to not."
He'd stake his peanuts against anyone else's.
"We'd have to see if the peanut man could take Mr. Peanut," Chris jokes.
"My wife says our house has turned into a peanut factory--a warehouse," he says.
Despite his job loss, this nut wouldn't have it any other way.
"Of course when it first happened, I was frustrated, upset, not sure what to do, but ultimately, it turned out to be a real blessing. And I'm glad that everything happened just the way it did," Chris says.
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