Shopping in Nashville: Emmaline Boutique

Although located outside of Nashville in Franklin, the upscale boutique Emmaline is well worth the drive for anyone fashion forward looking for shopping in Nashville.  Emmaline was established in the fall of 2003 from the vision of Emily Phillips.  She filled a niche in Franklin for “women who want wardrobes with a touch of New York vogue”.  Before the doors even opened, Phillips was diagnosed with breast cancer. That’s when friends and family pulled together to help her open what had always been her dream.  Phillips lost her battle in 2005 but her legacy lives on in the form of a store that was purchased and kept running by Abby Palmer.

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Possessing the same dream as its founder, Palmer hoped to compliment and expand on the foundation that was given her.  After receiving her degree in fashion merchandising and completing an internship in New York, she felt ready to owning her own boutique.

“I got my fashion merchandising degree at Lipscomb University, so that kind of where I decided that fashion was going to be a career for me. My mom played a huge role my fashion when I was younger.  She always had my sister and me dressed up to the nines.  So a lot of it was almost taken out of my hands, she just did it.  So really fashion for me came at a latter age, around high school.  Through my elementary years I played soccer so I really only focused on athletic things.  When I went to high school I really started having fun with fashion,” said Palmer.

“While getting my degree I did an internship at a local boutique that I was currently working at.  But during my internship the owner allowed me a little more accesses to learning about ordering and the more behind the scenes stuff.  After graduating I still didn’t feel like I had enough experience to start my own store, so I did another internship with a store.  This store committed to allowing me to go to market with them in New York, so I could learn more about the buying experience.  From there I went and worked in New York for a year and a half, then moved back when I learned that Emmaline was for sale,” said Palmer.

Emmaline is described by Palmer as the perfect boutique for the modern woman who simply loves to be a girl.  Specializing in emerging to established designers, Emmaline has become a destination for that perfect balance of sophistication and understated chic.  When buying for the store Palmer stays true to Philips original vision while adding her own influences.

“My aesthetic defiantly plays in to sourcing pieces because you can’t get lost trying to make other people happy, but the most important person is the customer.  My customers absolutely drive my buying.  I have a specific kind of woman in when I’m buying.  It’s not even a specific type of women; its certain customers from the store who I know will love certain things.  It makes customers so happy when you tell them you where thinking of them at market and bought this because you thought they would love it,” said Palmer.