The downtown Roanoke Peanut Store is gone, shuttered by the owner of the building along with a nearby reading room that featured religious material.

The departures from the building at 304 First Street make the two-story structure look empty and ready for change. Caroline Roberts, whose father, Andrew, owns the defunct snack shop and the building, declined to comment Thursday.

With the closure of the Peanut Store, downtown loses another defining retailer. For years, its staff roasted peanuts in an authentic natural gas-fired oven with a Mr. Peanut statue on top. Roberts sold the appliance to a New York collector in 2001, but the Peanut Store continued to carry peanuts and maintained its following.

"They were very busy. It was an active little place," said Mary Douthat, an employee of the Christian Science Reading Room, which used to be located next door.

The reading room was a fixture in its own right, for decades offering a quiet space for souls to come in off the street and study matters of faith. It sold Bibles and Christian Science materials.

Douthat said it all came to a halt this summer when first the peanut store closed and then the reading room relocated because the landlord had indicated the building had or would be sold.

"We had until the 31st," Douthat said, but the reading room closed ahead of the deadline. It is now at the First Church of Christ, Scientist on Overland Road in Roanoke.

A sign on the Peanut Store door offers the business or its equipment for sale.