Shop Til You Drop

by Lonnie Ayers February 12, 2021

Shop Til You Drop

It is estimated that there are 300 stores and restaurants in Nashville, each offering food, art, gifts, homemade crafts, and many other things of interest to Nashville’s visitors.

Artist Colony Inn - Nashville, Indiana

Typical Nashville Store

Until about 20 years or so ago, almost every shop in the town of Nashville was a log cabin which had been repurposed into a store selling wonderful things.

Now there are quite a few of these shops residing inside big three-story buildings so don’t overlook going into each store in each of the bigger structures if you want to see all of what Nashville has to offer In the way of gifts.

Almost any type of gift can be picked up while you visit in Nashville or if you make a note of which store had something you wanted to purchase, it is easy to do the shopping in the comfort of your own home.

While in the stores ask if they have a copy of “The Brown County Almanack” or “This is Brown County.” Make a note on each of the ads appearing in these booklets that you want to buy after you go home but don’t want to buy and have to tote it around town while you are browsing.

Once home, open the booklets to pages you have marked and go to this website where anything you want can be ordered shipped to your front door. Simple and easy isn’t it.

BrownCountysouvenir.com is the place that can provide you with a nice gift for anyone in your family or circle of friends.

But while in town, stop by and feast on the many items these wonderful chefs have cooked up for you. And all the candy shops will usually have sample platters with small pieces of their wares you can put on your tongue and savor the taste before you buy more of that particular one by the pound. There are lots of candy and ice cream stores located all across town. I must have gained 20 pounds over the 21 years I worked at the newspaper office and had to go to the post office for our mail by stopping at each of the candy stores and sampling their candies. For one of my free Thanksgiving dinners served on Thanksgiving Day, one of these candy stores donated 40 pounds of candy for me to distribute to the children attending the dinners. What a great show of kindness by these proprieters.

Another shop donated over 700 pieces of Christmas tree decorations for me to use at these dinners, and Santa Claus made an appearance at each dinner.

If you are about the expire for want of a good cup of coffee, there are several types available on Van Buren Street.

If you don’t want to stand in line and wait for your name to appear on a reservation chart at the larger restaurants, there are numerous places where you can pick up something simple like quarter pound hot dogs, gyros, popcorn, etc. Just step up and order.

One of the gifts that inspired my granddaughter,r Mercedes, this past Christmas was one I had never seen before. One of the shops on East Main Street had a collection of home-made wooden white tail deer sitting out on their sidewalk.

Someone had gone out into the woods and found different sizes of tree limbs and but them into the legs, body, face, tail and antlers of deer of all sizes from babies to mamas. Where their teeth would be the bark had been removed and the remaining wood painted white. Mercedes and I went around the block twice or three times to get a better look and I’m sure she will have one in her own home (if she has one) by next Christmas. She is the pilot of a 767 Jet airplane and her home each day is a hotel in any city where she lands her plane. Her home is in Madrid, Spain, and she is delighted and in love with everything Nashville.

You can buy nearly anything from toys, food, gifts, leather items, tee shirts or balsamic vinegar or the candy and Ice cream. Surely there is something you desperately need and want. If so, you can find it in uniquely wonderful, Nashville, Brown County, Indiana.