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In early March, a set of tornados in Tennessee affected several parts of the Nashville area leaving a handful of individuals dead and affecting so many more.

Local boutique Music City Vintage was one of the many places caught in the storm hoping to recover following the aftermath.

Music City Vintage shortly became a staple as it opened its brick and mortar location in 2018. However, its roots in the city were planted years prior as co-owners Justin Allman and Trea Broyles had a love and passion for thrifting in elementary school and then took it to the streets with pop-ups in 2014.

We had the chance to catch up with Justin of Music City Vintage to hear their story, learn what they have next and what the city of Nashville is doing to help (and how they’re giving back to the city as well).

Recovering from the Tornado

Nice Kicks: Obviously the tragic events took a big hit on you guys. What do y’all have lined up?

Justin Allman: We tried to recover as much gear as we could. We’re already looking toward new spots. We took this opportunity to help our community out since so many already helped us out. We started helping out with other tornado victims. Now the plan is just to relocate, get a bigger spot and pick-up where we left off at.

Support from the Community

It really establish that we’re a part of the city and that we have to keep on going.

Nice Kicks: I’m a firm believer that if you take care of your city, your city takes care of you. How has the support from Nashville been ever since the tornado affected the shop?

Justin:It’s been amazing. You really can’t imagine it because we’ve been doing this for so long. You don’t really understand the footprint you hold in Nashville until something like this happens.

We heard about the tornado at 3 a.m. and we had people helping out when there was still lightning and rain. We tried to salvage as much as we could and then took a break because we started smelling gas from a leak. We came back around 7 a.m. and so many people helped out. It really establish that we’re a part of the city and that we have to keep on going.

Next Steps for Music City Vintage

Nice Kicks: There’s a GoFundMe link going around that’s already garnering a lot of support. You also alluded to a new space. Where’s that money being dedicated to, and what’s next for the brand?

Justin: Our number one priority after the rubble was taking care of our associates and our employees. Those guys are family to us. We already had a meeting this past Saturday, and we’re going to give them 3-4 weeks worth of pay. A good percentage of that money goes to their pay. And we’re going to use the remainder of that money as a down payment and things like lighting, furniture and other things for the new storefront.

The brand really wants to put Nashville on the map. We want to help become a driving force for the youth and creatives in the city.