Community Highlights: Meet Brittany & Brandon Hartwell of Molly Green

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brittany & Brandon Hartwell.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
It has been a journey, to say the least. We began 11 years ago in Homewood, Alabama, a quaint neighborhood in Birmingham. Brittany and I became partners in four Subway restaurants in South Florida right after we got married in 2007. Brittany never had any intentions of making subway sandwiches 80-100 hours a week, she expected to be in fashion or styling of some sort.

Brittany and I have worked together day in and day out for 14 years, and I feel so grateful for that. In 2010, we accepted that we were not content in our work, so we decided to act. We created a product in the foodservice industry, sold our stake in the Subway’s and moved to Birmingham where Brittany and her family are from. Brittany had been dreaming of opening a clothing boutique her whole life. The stars aligned back in the winter of 2010 when Brittany committed to creating this brand. She called up Anna, my sister-in-law, who had just got done with school and was trying to figure out what to do next. Brittany asked her if she wanted to start a clothing brand. Without having to think much, Anna was all in. By February, we were on our way to Las Vegas for our first buying trip. Woah, you should see those pictures. We were babies.

Anna and Brittany ran this tiny little shop with the most fabulous window displays you have ever seen in a boutique. Ferry picnics and winter wonderlands would fill the giant plate glass window of the shop. Brittany is a dreamer and flat-out visionary. I can’t tell you how many ideas we have written down, developed, and created over the years. She has this unique ability to dream up a vision and see it with such incredible clarity from the get-go. Those first 2 years were challenging, looking back, we could have very easily given up and closed up shop. An opportunity was presented and we moved the store into the Riverchase Galleria in this tiny space next to Starbucks. We had never seen foot traffic like that. The customers were drawn to not only the unique, easy-to-wear styles, but more than anything people loved Brittany, Anna, and our team.

From day one, we wanted to provide a customer experience as fun and expressive as the clothes we were selling. We strived to make friends and help style those who were drawn into the store. After a short time in the 700 sq, ft former barbershop turned mid-century marble Molly Green, we moved into a larger space where we’re able to update the experience and offer much more inventory. After a year open in the mall, we thought about opening a location back in the Nashville area, where Brittany and I met. We opened our Cool Springs location back in 2015 and by 2017 had locations in the Mall at Green Hills and Opry Mills. By this time, Brittany and I moved to Nashville and Anna was on the road back and forth training our teams and keeping the stores happy!

We have had some incredible times over the past 11 years. We have met a new family in our friends who fell in love with the brand and the vision. Heather, our Visual Merchandising manager started with us on opening day at the Cool Springs location as an Assistant Manager. Heather has been through it all with us. Experienced Molly Green on the verge of failing after opening a few stores in Atlanta that were detrimental to our overall brand. Myself, Anna, Brittany, Heather, and her fiancé Doc moved out of those two Atlanta area mall stores overnight at the same time one early spring night/morning. Brittany and I at one store, Heather, Anna, and Doc at the other. We were delirious at 5 am getting Waffle House after we finished up. We failed to fail though.

We kept the vision alive and bounced back from the experience becoming more resilient. Our team, brand-wide kept providing our customers with great experience after great experience and we climbed back. Heather is responsible for how lovely the walls are matched in each Molly Green. Every few months she creates directives showing our color stories and how to arrange the styles throughout the store to bring our collections alive. It is amazing to be with family throughout the workday. You should see Brittany, Anna, and myself around the kitchen table after Anna arrives at our house after being at a store all day. Talk about a silly goose time. I have so much fun working with Anna. She has given her all to Molly Green since the beginning.

She will be working on the payroll at 11 pm on a Wednesday, following a full day of training a new store leader at one of the stores. You should make it your goal to visit a store when Anna is around. She is going to give you the best shopping experience you have ever had. She may have a top bun and be dancing around. But you can count on her adding on to your fitting room and becoming your new friend. One of the happiest points that come to mind when thinking back on our journey, is our East Nashville Grand opening party in early 2019. By this time, we had several other team members who had really committed to the brand including our social media and Web Director, Kelsey Wells, and our Marketing Director, Laura Foster.

Kelsey started out working in the Opry Mills store years prior and worked her way into now being the person who provides all of the fun content on social media, also bringing the website to life. Laura actually became part of the family when we first started the brand in Homewood. After finishing school, she came back, moving to Nashville to help bring the brand vision to life. In 2018, we were on a mission to try and get our stores into neighborhoods, deeper into the community rather than only in malls. We felt like our brand was more accurately represented in that setting. As I have mentioned we try to really connect with our customers rather than just selling them clothes.

So, what better way to enhance this than having stores in the local neighborhoods we love. So right after the Atlanta debacle, we decided to move the Opry Mills location to East. We rented this amazing building on the corner of McFerrin and Main St. Eastside murals painted the entire exterior with a bright watercolor design. It felt like home. We had our studio and office in the building as well as a store. We did not know what to expect. But the team worked hard to get the word out about our opening and asked the neighborhood and our customers to come to check out the new spot. And they did! We had butterflies in our stomach seeing all of the friendly faces and hearing the encouraging kind words. We knew we were headed in the right direction.

Our East Nashville Hub ended up being completely wiped out in the March 2020 tornado. It was surreal to see what used to be our store the morning after and the devastation in the surrounding area. We were so lucky that our team was all safe and knew that losing our store was nothing compared to all of those without their homes. Life is unpredictable. Nashville is such a wonderful community and in times of chaos, the community really steps up for one another. It was beautiful to see all of the support for us and other local businesses and families. As far as our story, we knew that day, we would bounce back. A few weeks after the tornado, the stores were shut down due to Covid. We didn’t know what was going to happen.

But we did know that we wanted to stay positive and adapt. Accept the circumstances at hand and find opportunities to strengthen our business and brand. It was so special seeing our team across the board, come together when we were shut down. We were making jewelry. Hand delivering packages all across town and deep into the country as well. Brandy Cates, our Nashville area manager was packing orders like mad. No cars on the street, and Brandy is going store to store, collecting items to fulfill orders. Brandy is one of the hardest workers we have worked with, you can find her combining online orders to this day at Hillsboro Village at 11 pm on a Tuesday. Earlier this year we opened our 6th location at the new 5th and Broadway and moved our Hillsboro store a few doors down, where the iconic Pangaea used to live.

We are so grateful to be in that space and in Historic Hillsboro Village. The brand is energized like never before. Anna, Heather, I, and Brittany are currently developing our spring collection and are very excited about what is coming to stores in 2022. We are focused on continuing to improve on the customer experience we provide and developing new and unique product collections. Molly Green exists as it does thanks to the wonderful humans who work with us as well as the people who support us every day, coming into the stores and shopping online.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, I wouldn’t describe the road to be smooth, but we have good shocks! We always try to apply the idea that failures are not failures at all if we do not give up. If we keep going and learn from our challenges, we develop resilience that can strengthen our brand.

Closing the two stores in Atlanta was the heaviest obstacle to overcome in our business history. We learned so much and in the end, I believe we are stronger today because of it.

We’ve been impressed with Molly Green, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Well, she’s not technically a specific person. She’s more of a group of vivacious, fun, amazing, hard-working human beings that come together and sometimes makes a mess. We wake up, we sell clothes, we love what we do and we want YOU to love US. Owning a small business isn’t always easy but when we come together and see what we’ve made, it always becomes something so much better than we ever imagined.

Affordable and wearable, Molly Green perfectly mixes feminine, edgy, minimal, and glam fashion. No rules! Why? Because it’s all about what makes you feel just right. Expect to be spoken to and treated like a friend. You know those times when you get home from shopping and have no idea what to wear with anything you just purchased? Well, we specialize in making outfits. Our goal is that you know how to incorporate your new with your old. Can we start you a fitting room?

How do you define success?
I believe it begins with aiming and taking action on that which you desire. Ultimately, I consider success to be achieving that which is set forth and sought after.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.shopmollygreen.com
• Instagram: shopmollygreen
• Facebook: shopmollygreen
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/molly-green-nashville-4?osq=Molly+green