The Store Operations Manager Sarah Goodrich unloads inventory – credit Belmont University.
By Andy Corbley, Good News Network, Aug 6, 2024
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/brad-paisley-wants-to-open-another-free-grocery-store-in-nashville-after-5-years-of-dedicated-servic
In 2019, GNN reported that country star Brad Paisley had broken ground on a free grocery store that would allow residents of Nashville suffering from food insecurity to ‘shop’ with dignity and variety.
Now, after five years of unexpected challenges, Pasiley is looking to expand by building another location in North Nashville.
“We’re going to open another location as soon as we get all the T’s crossed and I’s dotted,” Paisley told the invited guests at last month’s CEO Roundtable awards, according to Nashville Business Journal.
“It’s groceries with dignity,” Paisley said. “We’ve all seen the situations where people are willing to go get a handout in a brown bag from the back of a truck. We envisioned something completely different, where all of the sting of the indignity, that comes with really your kids seeing you in this precarious position.”
On March 12th, 2020, The Store by Brad Paisley opened its doors, only to face immediate and unprecedented challenges. Just ten days before its opening, Nashville was hit by a deadly tornado outbreak, leaving over 70,000 residents without power and marking it as the sixth costliest tornado in U.S. history. Amidst this chaos, The Store, though working at limited capacity, sprang into action to assist those affected.
Days after the tornado, the COVID-19 pandemic forced a nationwide shutdown, including Tennessee’s shelter-in-place order. This necessitated an urgent pivot from The Store’s initial model. Brad, his wife Kimberly, and the team developed a pandemic program overnight, offering curbside pickup and home delivery services, particularly to the elderly, operating in this manner for the next 17 months.
Despite the challenges, it fulfilled Brad and Kim’s ideal of introducing their children to the idea of service.
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“We’ve got to get them into service and get them out of their bubble, and help them understand that there are hungry people in the world,” Kimberly Williams-Paisley shared on The Store’s website.=
The Store gradually expanded and expanded, including comprehensive wrap-around solutions such as counseling, budgeting, cooking classes, and even literacy, pet care, back-to-school support, and music therapy.
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In November 2023 it added a toy store just in time to help stock the Christmas trees of the 400 families the Store routinely serves.
“The emotional aspect of being able to give your child something your child wanted versus just something to sort of get you through the holidays, that’s such a load off the minds of somebody who maybe didn’t think they were going to be able to do that,” Paisley said.