Best Places To Shop In Nashville's 12 South Neighborhood

Founders Matt and Carrie Eddmenson first launched Imogene + Willie in 2009 as an online-only service dedicated to selling the highest-quality denim for both men and women. Their email campaign was so wildly successful that in the summer of the same year, the couple opened their first brick-and-mortar store in what was once an old service station in Nashville’s 12 South neighborhood. Today, Imogene + Willie is truly a boutique unlike any other in Nashville — or quite possibly anywhere else in the world. While the space may have once functioned as a gas station, today the boutique — filled with rustic furniture and décor with its products so organically integrated that you may find yourself wondering exactly what’s for sale and what is mere decoration — is a study in the power of raw, folksy charm. And perhaps most importantly, their denim will make you rethink the very definition of denim — the store was even featured by the likes of The New York Times for its quality and inventiveness.

Corner Music has been serving Nashville’s thriving music scene since it opened in 1976. It’s earned a number of distinctions in the decades that it’s been operating, including over 15 Top Sales awards from Music & Sound Retailer magazine and the only Five Star Gibson Acoustic Dealership in Nashville (given to some of the best stores to buy guitars in the country on the grounds of expertise in Gibson acoustics and a full selection of Gibson acoustic guitars). The store is a favorite amongst Nashville’s many professional artists and music industry veterans not only for its wide range of products – the store sells everything from guitars and amps to recording equipment and much, much more – but also for its staff members’ breadth of knowledge and expertise.

It’s probably not often that you’re presented with opportunities to shop from a selection of clothing and accessories personally curated by Reese Witherspoon. Since opening a brick and mortar storefront next to Sprinkles cupcakes on 12 South, however, Nashville locals and visitors have had this very chance. Witherspoon created Draper Jamesto honor her Southern heritage, and today the store sells modern-day takes on preppy Southern classics. This store is certainly not for everyone; firstly, it is a luxury boutique, with most clothing items priced between $80-300. Its products are also skewed towards the deeply Southern, preppy, conservative aesthetic from which many Nashville residents depart sharply. However, if you enjoy a luxury floral print or colorful gingham- or if you’re merely curious to see what a Reese Witherspoon-imagined boutique would look like – then a stop by Draper James can’t hurt. https://instagram.com/p/BJli62hh9dD/?taken-by=draperjames