World City Guide

Shopping

The best buys in Nashville are inevitably music-related and can be found in Music City. Difficult-to-get-hold-of CDs can be easier to find here, while some record stores are attractions in their own right. One such is Ernest Tubb’s Record Shop No 1, 417 Broadway (tel: (615) 255 7503; website: www.ernesttubb.com ), founded by the ‘Texas Troubador’. It has an excellent stock of country music, with memorabilia as well as vinyl and CDs. Other branches are at 1516 Demonbruen (tel: (615) 244 2845) and 2416 Music Valley Drive (tel: (615) 889 2474). For a wider choice, the biggest record store in Nashville is Tower Records, 2400 West End Avenue (tel: (615) 327 3722). Nashville’s mecca of hard-to-find vinyl and CDs is Grimey’s Preloved Music, 2825 Bransford Avenue (tel: (615) 269 5501, website: www.grimeys.com ). The main musical instrument store (one of the best in the USA) is Gruhn Guitars, 400 Broadway (tel: (615) 256 2033, website: www.gruhn.com ), and is worth a visit just to look at its vintage guitars.

Clothing goes hand-in-hand with country music and outrageous outfits can be bought at Trail West, 219 Broadway (tel: (615) 255 7030) and Manuel Exclusive Clothier, 1922 Broadway (tel: (615) 321 5444). For clothing and accessories that time has forgot&or at least perhaps, should have forgotten check out Flashback, 2204 Elliston Place (tel. (615) 321 5326) or Smack Vintage to Vinyl Clothing, 2201 Elliston Place (tel. (615) 321 9030).Unusual and distinctive music souvenirs are available for purchase at Hatch Show Print Shop, 316 Broadway (tel: (615) 256 2805), a working print shop that has many vintage as well as contemporary show posters for sale, along with postcards and photographs.

The best shopping malls are out of town. The biggest and newest is Opry Mills, 433 Opry Mills Mall (tel: (615) 514 1100), with 200 stores, restaurants, cafés and entertainment venues – including an IMAX theatre. Slightly smaller, with 165 stores and good for clothing in particular, is the Cool Springs Galleria, 1800 Galleria Boulevard, off I-65 (tel: (615) 771 2128).

From 14 June to November, the Nashville Food Fair (tel: (615) 444 6104) takes place in five different locations all on church grounds on various days of the week. These open-air farmers markets are located in various church grounds at 6401 Harding Road (Tuesday), 4101 Harding Road (Wednesday), 643 Harding Place (Thursday), 2100 Woodmont Boulevard (Friday) and 3061 Nolensville Road (Saturday). All manner of farm produce goes on sale between 0700 and 1200.
Opening hours tend to be Mon-Sat 1000-1800 Downtown and Mon-Sat 1000-2100 and Sun 1300-1800 in the suburbs. In Nashville, the sales tax is 8.25%, which is non-refundable.