Recently, my husband and I visited Nashville. We scheduled our trip around the Nashville Antique and Garden Show, which hosts dealers from around the country, as well as speaking events with nationally recognized designers.
While I do love to lie on a beach, this sort of vacation is less physical relaxation and more mental and creative stimulation. We do have wonderful shops in Kansas City, but it’s engaging to see perspectives, products, and vignettes created in different vernaculars and settings.
In addition, shopping out of town—for home product as well as clothing—broadened our perspective on commercial development and retail display, which can inspire personal interior design as well. Nashville’s Neuhoff District, where stand-out retailers Sid and Ann Mashburn have opened their new stores, has taken advantage of the devolution of the early 1890s buildings within the former meatpacking district to develop new commercial spaces. While the polished new residential, retail, and commercial space is crisp and sleek, remnants of older buildings still stand, a modern-day Stonehenge-ish landscape that coexists with new pickleball courts encased in clear walls.
The Mashburns are pioneers there, and their presence is a notable one. The couple share a good eye and updated style with a classic foundation, in addition to a sense of humor and whimsy. Their clothes and displays are a combination of tradition and a fresh perspective, but they are not the only notable tenants. James Beard Award-winning chefs have opened restaurants in the development.
The trip sparked a lot of conversation of the value of both tradition and rebirth, and the opportunities within Kansas City. What a welcome delight it would be to see similar approaches—and retailers, both local and national—in the reimaginations of the Country Club Plaza and the West Bottoms. We look forward to watching the evolution of these areas unfold.