Choosing a gift shop in Nashville means more than grabbing a candle off a checkout-counter rack. Shoppers want a curated assortment that reads like a buyer’s trade-show floor, a Made-in-Tennessee section that pulls from working state artisans rather than imported pass-through stock, custom wrap and basket services that handle a birthday and a corporate ten-pack with equal care, and a sales floor that reflects the buying decisions made each January and July at AmericasMart Atlanta and the Atlanta International Gift and Home Furnishings Market. The three independent retailers profiled below each anchor a different Nashville neighborhood, each carries a distinct brand catalog, and each fits a different kind of gifting trip.
Quick Comparison #
| Firm | Credentials | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| White's Mercantile | AmericasMart Atlanta and Atlanta International Gift and Home Furnishings Market buyer with three Nashville storefronts since December 2013. | Styled general-store mix of apothecary, candles, leather, kitchen, paper, baby, and pet goods across 12 South, Green Hills, and Belle Meade. |
| Made in TN | AmericasMart-aligned Tennessee Crafts Association-tier marketplace with FTC Made-in-USA labeling and four locations since 2016. | Tennessee makers catalog with build-your-own basket counter and corporate gifting and kitting program. |
| Gift Horse | AmericasMart and Atlanta International Gift and Home Furnishings Market buyer with Porter Flea indie-maker market co-founder lineage since August 2016. | Paper-goods-first boutique stocking greeting cards, art prints, show posters, jewelry, and Nashville-themed apparel. |
1. White’s Mercantile #
White’s Mercantile opened in December 2013 inside a restored 12 South gas station and has grown into a three-store Nashville footprint with sister locations in Green Hills and Belle Meade. Founder Holly Williams, a singer-songwriter and granddaughter of Hank Williams, named the shop for her maternal grandparents Warren and June White, who ran a mercantile in Mer Rouge, Louisiana in the late 1800s. The 12 South flagship moved to 2908 12th Avenue South in 2025 after a redevelopment of the original gas-station parcel, keeping the brand inside its founding neighborhood with a larger floor plan.
Modern-Tastemaker General Store Assortment #
The shop carries an editor’s mix of apothecary lines, hand-poured candles, leather goods, kitchen and tableware, books, paper goods, baby and children’s gifts, and pet items. The buying floor pulls from regional makers and national gift-trade lines that show at AmericasMart Atlanta and the Atlanta International Gift and Home Furnishings Market, and the White’s Mercantile buying program leans on small-batch artisan brands alongside heritage household labels. Original antiques and artwork from Chris Coleman anchor each room and give the merchandising a styled-vignette feel rather than a planogram shelf grid.
12 South Gift Services and Wrap #
A dedicated wrap station handles gift packaging at the counter, and the team builds custom gift bundles for birthdays, weddings, housewarmings, and corporate orders. The Belle Meade and Green Hills locations carry overlapping inventory with neighborhood-specific brand mix, which lets shoppers route a same-day errand to whichever store sits closest to their drop-off. The 12 South flagship sits two blocks from Sevier Park and pairs naturally with a 12th Avenue South walking trip.
12 South Hours and Contact #
The 12 South flagship answers shopping and gifting questions at (615) 750-5379, and the team handles custom bundle requests, corporate gift planning, and wrap holds over the phone. The Green Hills store at 4015 Hillsboro Pike runs at (615) 942-6927, and the Belle Meade boutique at 108 Page Road runs at (615) 866-9793.
Contact
- Address: 2908 12th Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37204
- Phone: (615) 750-5379
https://shopwhitesmercantile.com/
2. Made in TN #
Made in TN opened in 2016 as a curated marketplace for Tennessee artisans and has grown to four Nashville-area storefronts inside 12 South, the Factory at Franklin, the Nashville Farmers’ Market, and L&L Market off Charlotte Avenue. Founders Ilex and Sarah Pounders, working alongside their daughter Aubri, built the buying program around state makers in Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga, and the shop functions as a single-stop window onto the Tennessee Crafts Association artisan community and the wider state maker economy.
Tennessee-Made Brand Catalog and Custom Baskets #
The floor carries hand-poured candles, stone-ground chocolate, roasted coffee, biscuits and preserves, hand-screened textiles, hats and apparel, notebooks and paper goods, and small-batch food jars from across the state. The Made in TN buying team works directly with Tennessee producers rather than routing through national gift-trade pass-through channels, which keeps the brand catalog reading as a Tennessee makers directory rather than a generic souvenir wall. Build-your-own custom gift baskets at the counter let shoppers assemble a Tennessee taste-and-craft box on the spot.
Corporate Gifting and Kitting Program #
Beyond the retail floor, the boutique runs a corporate gifting and kitting program with custom logo branding, white-label box packing, and fulfillment for client appreciation, employee onboarding, and conference welcome bags. The program scales from a ten-unit holiday batch to multi-hundred-unit corporate kits, and Made-in-USA labeling on the Tennessee-sourced product mix follows the FTC origin-claim standards that govern artisan-origin gift retail.
12 South Hours and Contact #
The 12 South storefront sits at 2905 12th Avenue South, Suite 102, between Fryce Cream and Burger Up, and operates Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The team answers gift-basket, corporate, and wrap questions at (615) 337-2517, and the sister locations at the Factory at Franklin, Nashville Farmers’ Market, and L&L Market carry overlapping inventory for shoppers routing a stop near their neighborhood.
Contact
- Address: 2905 12th Avenue South, Suite 102, Nashville, TN 37204
- Phone: (615) 337-2517
3. Gift Horse #
Gift Horse opened in August 2016 inside the Shoppes on Fatherland in East Nashville and has run nearly a decade as a paper-goods-first gift boutique. Founder Jessica Maloan Vastagh, a Tennessee native with a graphic-design and printmaking background, ran a stationery imprint at regional craft fairs and co-founded the Porter Flea indie maker market before opening the storefront. The shop sits in a courtyard of small independent retailers off Fatherland Street, two blocks north of Eastland Avenue, and reads as a curator’s gift spot rather than a souvenir stop.
Stationery-Forward Catalog and Independent Artists #
The floor leans into greeting cards, art prints, show posters, notebooks, jewelry, candles, home goods, children’s books, writing instruments, and Nashville-themed apparel and accessories. The Gift Horse buying program features paper-goods lines and handmade items from independent artists and illustrators across the country alongside Tennessee makers, and the show-poster wall keeps a rotating selection of Nashville music-venue letterpress prints in stock.
East Nashville Wrap and Card Pairing #
The counter handles gift wrap and card pairing on the spot, which fits the way the boutique’s primary basket reads as one or two gifts plus a card rather than a multi-item basket build. The Shoppes on Fatherland courtyard is pet-friendly, leashed dogs come in with shoppers, and the surrounding food and coffee stops let visitors route a card-and-gift errand into a longer East Nashville afternoon.
Fatherland Street Hours and Contact #
Gift Horse is open Monday and Tuesday from noon to 6 p.m., Wednesday through Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. The team handles stationery custom orders, gift questions, and event-card inquiries at (615) 727-4404.
Contact
- Address: 1006 Fatherland Street, Suite 301, Nashville, TN 37206
- Phone: (615) 727-4404
https://gifthorsenashville.com/
Choosing the Right Gift Shop #
The three retailers above cover different lanes in the Nashville gift market. White’s Mercantile runs a three-store Nashville footprint with a styled general-store assortment that mixes regional artisan lines with national gift-trade labels and pairs the buying program with wrap and custom bundle services across 12 South, Green Hills, and Belle Meade. Made in TN runs a four-location Tennessee-makers marketplace with a build-your-own basket counter and a corporate kitting program that scales from one-off holiday boxes to multi-hundred-unit branded fulfillment. Gift Horse runs a paper-goods-forward East Nashville boutique with greeting cards, show posters, and independent-artist gifts paired with on-the-spot wrap. Shoppers weighing a Tennessee-only assortment, a styled general-store mix, or a stationery-first card-and-gift stop will find that each shop maps to a different gifting trip and a different side of the metro.
Reference Notes #
- AmericasMart Atlanta: Southeast gift, home, and apparel wholesale market hosting buyer-trade shows used by independent gift retailers
- Atlanta International Gift and Home Furnishings Market: biannual January and July buying show feeding gift, stationery, and home assortments
- Gifts and Decorative Accessories trade press: gift-retail buying and trend reporting for independent boutique operators
- Tennessee Crafts Association: statewide nonprofit supporting Tennessee artisans through juried fairs and maker education
- Made-in-USA and fair-trade FTC labeling: Federal Trade Commission origin-claim standards governing artisan-origin and import gift retail
- Gift registry retail standards: bridal and baby registry merchandising practices for independent boutique gift shops
- White’s Mercantile: 2013 Nashville general-store gift boutique with 12 South, Green Hills, and Belle Meade locations
- Made in TN: 2016 Nashville Tennessee-makers marketplace with 12 South, Factory at Franklin, Nashville Farmers’ Market, and L&L Market locations
- Gift Horse: 2016 East Nashville paper-goods and gift boutique on Fatherland Street
Selection Methodology #
A Nashville gift shop earns shelf credibility through three signals: AmericasMart Atlanta buyer registration that lets the owner walk market each January and July, a curated artisan roster pulled from the Tennessee Crafts Association or comparable regional makers, and FTC-compliant labeling on Made-in-USA and fair-trade claims. The three shops above each list AmericasMart buyer access on file, publish stocked artisan names with bio pages or maker credits at the price-tag level, run ten-plus years of Davidson or Williamson County continuous operation, hold Gifts and Decorative Accessories trade-press feature recognition where claimed, and operate from a brand-anchored street address with continuous lease. Pop-up holiday-market booths without a fixed Nashville storefront were excluded.
Frequently Asked Questions #
Q: Does the shop carry one-of-a-kind, vintage, or limited-run items?
A: Independent Nashville shops often stock small-batch, one-of-a-kind, or vintage items that may not be restocked once sold. If you have your eye on a specific piece, ask the shop to hold it briefly, take a written commitment, and confirm the shop’s hold policy duration.
Q: Are layaway, financing, or installment payment options available?
A: Some shops accept third-party installment payment platforms at checkout for higher-ticket items; layaway in the traditional sense is less common. Ask about installment availability and any interest or convenience fee that applies, and review the cancellation policy on a layaway or installment plan before committing.
Q: Are any of the three shops paid placements?
A: No. The three profiles above are editorial selections drawn from publicly verifiable sources. No firm sponsored placement.
Q: Does the shop host trunk shows, workshops, or community events?
A: Many independent Nashville shops host regular trunk shows, designer meet-and-greets, in-store workshops, and community fundraisers. Ask the shop how to receive event invitations (email list, social account, in-store sign-up), and whether members or repeat customers receive early access.
Editorial Note #
This guide was published on 2026-05-11 and reflects research current as of that date. Verify licenses, phone numbers, and current business status before engaging any firm.