Meet The Owner of The Head Nut

Patch wants to get to know the owner of The Head Nut, a long-standing specialty shop in Ardmore, offering dozens of spices, nuts, grains, candies, coffees, and more. Get to know the owner below.

Name: Lee Molineux

Owner of: The Head Nut

Year Established: 1964

Age: 67

Hometown: Upper Darby

Current Residence: Radnor

Schooling: Upper Darby High School

Earlier Stints: Molineux was a musician (he played trombone, guitar, and keyboard) before getting drafted to the Vietnam War. After the war, he realized music would only get so far and needed something else to pay the bills.

Favorite Nut: Molineux doesn't really snack during the day but, really, just on holidays. He enjoys eating a mix of half cashews and half peanuts and watching the football game.

How did you get into the business? 

My grandfather started in the grocery business and understood the wholesale and packaging of materials. He got into it and did this on his own. I grew up around it. My father worked at Ford Motors but it was my grandfather who got me into it. The retail part started by mistake. We used to only take orders by phone. But hospital workers used to knock on our windows asking if we would help them out with their charity, which we did and then we had more people knocking on our windows asking.

What's the best part of your job?

At the point in my life? Getting the respect from my peers. It didn't always start off that way. When you're new, it was like, "Yeah, sure, let's see how long you last." But now, I enjoy having that respect.

I also enjoy seeing all the young people here and see them mature, see them off to college and come back with their own families. We're probably on our third-generation of customers.

And the staff—you can't do this alone.

What do you like about the area?

This is where it started. It wasn't easy though. For a brief time we had gone bankrupt in the early 70s and had to move across the street because of bridge construction here, it's been a rough road. But this is where it all got started—it's original location. This is home.

What's next? 

We just opened up a stand in the Reading Terminal Market in Philly and we hope to continue to expand our business. We're trying to build our business as an all-year trade business. We're hoping to be the best spice purveyor in the city.

Plug: The Head Nut has more dozens of coffees, teas, spices, grains, candies, and more. The Head Nut also roasts their own coffee beans—you can pick up a cup of coffee or a pound of their java at their store at 2408-10 Haverford Road, Ardmore. For more information, visit their website here.