Rising Stars: Meet Tristen Gaspadarek of Nashville

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tristen Gaspadarek.

Hi Tristen, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started out as a touring musician, Tristen, and I would bring home vintage treasures I found in my travels to sell at a now defunct record shop in East Nashville called Fond Object. My favorite places to visit on tour were always coffee shops, used book stores, thrift shops, and vintage stores.

Fond Object had a cute little room where they sold second hand clothes. When this record store closed, and I found myself wanting to have a family and take a break from touring and I dreamed up a shop that brought together 7 different people selling and everyone working one day a week. I knew to continue to be an artist and mom that my time would be the most valuable thing.

We found our dream location right as Grimey’s Record Store was moving to East Nashville and opened the most perfect companion shop. You could buy records and then find yourself a star’s outfit right next door.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I think the real learning curve of anything in life is that you never know what’s going to happen. Growth is not guaranteed. We closed for four months during the pandemic.

We’ve been affected by the rise in the cost of living in our city. People just are not spending like they used to, perhaps wisely, and the cost of goods is greater. We also strive to pay a living wage and so wages had to go up to support our staff.

I think most small businesses nowadays rely on the consumer to make the less convenient, but more meaningful, choice to shop local and second hand. We dream of a world where truly small businesses can thrive.

It’s definitely become more than a one day a week job.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We specialize in curating hand picked, high quality, true vintage (25 years old) clothing, accessories, and housewares. I am most proud of the community that operates the store. We share knowledge, work and support our families by providing sustainable goods to our community. We hope we are contributing to slowing down the waste of fast fashion while also bringing the joy of beautiful objects to peoples’ homes. We are most proud of finding a way to run a business ethically in today’s environment. It feels radical to be ethical these days.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
I love the people of Nashville. The community of creatives and the rich history of music, the style and the confidence through competence, is an enriching culture to live in. Amenities are not culture, so I hope we can fight to preserve the culture here and that may mean organizing to protect our spaces from developers with purely profit motives. We are just beginning to figure out how to properly organize, vote, and protect our city but I have hope.

Pricing:

• $6-$200 depends on the value of the object – we like to have something for everyone

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.anacondavintage.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anacondavintage/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anacondavintage/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/anaconda-vintage-nashville