Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams-Paisley announce second nonprofit grocery store location in Nashville

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - The Store, a nonprofit organization that offers a free, referral-based grocery store for food-insecure families in Nashville, announced plans to open a second location on the campus of TriStar Centennial Medical Center. Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams-Paisley co-founded The Store.

“When we opened The Store in 2020, we were grateful to be able to help support our neighbors in need through a challenging year, including devastating tornadoes and a global pandemic,” Brad and Kimberly said. “It has always been our goal to expand this effort. We are thrilled to announce that The Store will open a second location with our friends at TriStar Centennial to further serve the larger community.”

The Store addresses food insecurity through a unique model. Customers get to shop in a setting much like a traditional grocery store. They select from fresh produce, meats, dairy and pantry items. The new location on the Centennial campus will include emergency clothing for customers, as well as double the shopping space.

The Store CEO Collen Mayer said the partnership with TriStar Centennial makes sense.

“As we’ve gotten to know their staff and their leadership, there’s such a focus on dignity of the person, and trying to lift people up in a way that really respects their dignity, respects their humanity. That is so values-aligned with what The Store is doing,” Mayer said.

The Store works exclusively through referral partners, according to Mayer. He said Centennial will be a great source of referrals now that they share a campus.

“As they’re seeing need in the community, whether it’s with their patients or others, they can refer people to us, and then we’re able to put them in one of our programs to make sure that we’re able to address that food insecurity and a lot of other needs as well,” Mayer said.

The current location is on the Belmont University campus, where Brad attended college. It offers fresh, nutritious food and wrap-around services to over 700 families shopping every other month.

“This space is going to have all of the free groceries as the first location, plus additional storage, additional refrigerator space so we can do things like fresh, healthy milk and eggs,” Mayer said, “We’re going to have a wonderful volunteer space where volunteers can come and help put together kits that The Store needs to be able to hand out.”

Tom Ozburn, president and CEO of TriStar Centennial Medical Center, said this partnership is the perfect intersection between the medical community’s acute care and The Store’s provisions.

“If we’re able to solve some of the insecurities that could end up causing healthcare problems, then we could improve the overall health of the community,” Ozburn said.

The Store launched a campaign to help raise money to operate the second location and future expansion opportunities. People can donate by visiting thestore.org.

The new location is set to open in the summer of 2025.

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