Nashville has earned a genuine reputation in the vintage world, driven partly by the city’s creative population and partly by the constant turnover of costume-heavy entertainment industry wardrobes. East Nashville is the center of gravity, but strong shops exist across multiple neighborhoods.
East Nashville
Igloo Vintage (1008 Forrest Ave) is the most-discussed vintage store in the city among serious buyers. The selection is dense, well-edited, and rotates quickly. The staff knows what they have and prices accordingly. This is not a charity shop. Expect to pay for quality. Go early in the week before weekend shoppers strip the best pieces.
Hip Zipper (1008 Forrest Ave, second floor) operates above Igloo and specializes in 1940s through 1970s clothing with an emphasis on unusual pieces over generic Levi’s. The owner has been buying and selling Nashville vintage for decades and the curation reflects that experience.
Fond Object Records & More blends vintage alongside vinyl, which tells you something about the East Nashville customer, they’re usually shopping both at once.
Downtown and Midtown
Antique Archaeology (1300 Clinton St, Marathon Village) is the shop from American Pickers. If you watch the show, you come for the novelty. If you’re an actual picker, you come for industrial antiques, signage, advertising pieces, and Americana. Not a clothing store, this is furniture, tools, and objects.
Savant Vintage (1109 Holly St) stocks carefully edited women’s vintage with an eye for 1960s and 1970s silhouettes. Smaller shop with higher quality control than most.
The Gulch and 12 South
ABLE (multiple Nashville locations) is technically a lifestyle and clothing brand, not a vintage shop, but its second-hand program and local presence are worth knowing about if you’re looking for quality items in the city’s fashionable neighborhoods.
Planet Cowboy (12 South) handles handmade and custom western wear, occupying a lane between vintage and contemporary craft. It’s the answer to “where do I get something that isn’t mass-produced from Boot Barn?”
What to Know Before You Shop
Nashville vintage prices have risen significantly as the city’s creative-economy population grew. What was a dollar-a-pound shop neighborhood a decade ago is now a boutique vintage market. Budget accordingly.
The best finds come on weekday mornings, before weekend tourism and the local-shopper Friday surge clear the racks. Shops on Instagram will tip you off to new arrivals faster than any other method.
For costume-quality and theatrical vintage at lower prices, Tennessee Antique Mall (654 Wedgewood Ave) offers a huge, multi-vendor floor that skews toward affordable oddities over curated fashion. It’s the kind of place where you come looking for one thing and leave with five others.
The Country Music Hall of Fame gift shop sells authenticated music memorabilia and stage costumes when they’re donated, but those are museum prices, a different category entirely from shopping.
Sources:
- Nashville Guru, Vintage Stores: https://www.nashvilleguru.com/nashville-vintage-shops
- East Nashville vintage community research and local knowledge