Timothy Grainger scoops up a pile of boiled peanuts and places them on a scale inside a bright orange trailer on Highway 61 in Charleston. Cars rush down the two-lane West Ashley thruway as he tips 4 pounds of nuts into a plastic bag. He ties the top and hands it to longtime customer Ken Knight.
The 53-year-old has been visiting Timbo’s Boiled Peanuts since he was a teenager. “He’s a great guy. He’s always been good to the heart,” Knight said.
“He treats everybody great.” Ken Knight picks up four pounds of boiled peanuts at Timbo's on June 15, 2024. Timbo’s Boiled Peanuts opened in March 1989 and has been parked at 2484 Ashley River Road for the last 18 years.
A health crisis and turmoil with his landlord has put Grainger’s business, which relies solely on selling a pound of peanuts for just $8, in danger of surviving. Born in Summerville, Grainger, 59, delivered food to airplanes before getting into the boiled peanut business. When he started, friends doubted the venture would work.
More than three decades later, he sells 100 pounds of nuts just about every day he opens; right now, that’s only on Fridays and Sundays. Grainger’s days are filled with unpleasantries when he’s not selling out of Cajun boiled peanuts before noon, like he did on June 15. Story continues below The Summerville resident starts his dialysis treatments just after 6 a.
m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Mondays and Wednesdays are reserved for doctors appointments.
He’s in .
