Amidst cars whooshing by on Charlotte Avenue and under a brown-and-white awning lies an unexpected little jewel box of a shop, filled with home furnishings and handmade artisan pieces. Elegant but unpretentious, Reed Smythe & Company provides visitors a brief respite from the outside world.
“I love the idea that if you walk in, you’re going to get offered a drink and a cheese straw,” says owner Keith Meacham. “You’re going to feel immediately like … somebody is welcoming you into their home.”
Keith and her longtime friend, the late writer Julia Reed, started Reed Smythe & Company as an online venture in 2018. The business has since added a 1,400-square-foot brick-and-mortar store so Nashvillians can experience the founders’ affection for Southern design in person. Think “rush mats with oriental rugs on top of them, white slipcover [furniture] and dogs lying in front of the fireplace,” says Keith. She describes the store’s signature style as “this unfussy, unpretentious way of decorating, but [one] that uses antiques and things that have been handed down.”
Visitors can expect an eclectic assortment of commissioned pieces and found gems, including a bright green metal table with a scalloped top, oak taper candles cast from branches from the North Carolina woods, and handblown glass wine rinsers replicating 19th-century originals. While the shop carries items from all over the world, there is a particular focus on Southern artisans. Most pieces are made specifically for the store, often to replicate favorites in Keith’s and Julia’s own collections.
The business has grown so much that they need more room. On Feb. 1, they’ll move into the space previously occupied by Nashville Holistic Pet in Paddock Place on White Bridge Road. The new shop promises to be equally inviting and infused with the founders’ Southern sensibility.
Both women grew up in Greenville, Mississippi. But because Julia was 10 years older, it wasn’t until they both moved to New York City that they got to be close friends.
“I like to think that I was sort of studying under her tutelage, because she was such an incredible designer, decorator, entertainer, writer,” says Keith. “She had incredible style. And even though I’m making myself sound like Pygmalion or something, I was young enough that I was kind of 10 years behind her setting up a house, learning how to entertain and being kind of a grown-up — rather than just some college kid putting out bottles of cheap wine.”
’Tis the season
With the holidays fast approaching, coming up with the perfect gift for everyone on your list can be stressful. Luckily, at Reed Smythe & Company, they’ve done the work for you. There are gift boxes tied with satin bows — one with Julia’s famous milk punch recipe, two hand-blown emerald-green goblets, homemade cheese straws and a bottle of Belle Meade Bourbon. Another has a bronze oyster knife, a mini bottle of Tabasco sauce and an oyster-shucking glove.
Heading South
Eleven years ago — after nearly two decades in New York City — Keith, a former educator, and her husband, author and historian Jon Meacham, moved to Nashville with their three children. “I’m from Mississippi, Jon is from Chattanooga, and we wanted to be in the South raising our kids with a yard and dogs and a house,” says Keith. Her home life and business life intertwine in beautiful ways: Handed-down glassware inspires new additions to the shop, and family recipes end up tucked inside Red & Smythe Company gift boxes.
No Place Like Home
What began on Charlotte Avenue as a fulfillment center for an internet business has since become a bustling retail shop. Through the month of December, store hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and there will definitely be Champagne and milk punch on hand. During the holidays and throughout the year, a book club (or just a group of friends!) may reserve the store for a “shopping cocktail party.” There’s no pressure to buy, says Keith. “It’s just a nice way … to welcome people into your home.”
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