Nashville Goes Pink For Dolly

Parton's Treasure & Trinkets officially ready for business

By Freya West
Published: March 19th, 2010 | 2:25pm

On a cloudy spring morning in Nashville, Tennessee, a pink explosion took place on 2nd Avenue. Next door to the Wildhorse Saloon, a crowd of roughly 200 was clad in pink—from cowboy hats with crystal tiaras to feather boas, T-shirts, and sunglasses—and crowded around a bright yellow building with a pink neon sign emblazoned “Dolly Parton’s Trinkets & Treasures” for the opening of the “Queen of Country Music”’s first retail store. Although the store had a soft opening last November, Parton was on hand this time to cut the appropriately pink ribbon and officially open the shop. A few lucky attendees also got the chance to meet and greet with Parton by raffle drawing.

“When I was growing up in the backwoods of the Smoky Mountains, any trinket was a treasure to me,” the flamboyant and famously well-endowed 64-year-old singer says, explaining her inspiration for the store. “The mail order catalogue was my wish book. I wished I could have everything I saw.” Parton notes that she always collects a trinket or treasure from every country and city she visits on her countless travels and tours.

The songstress-composer-actress-theme park owner is certainly a woman of many colors, and her store reflects that look. Inside the small space, a pastel rainbow barn motif adorns the walls and a light blue ceiling ensures sunny skies. Trinkets & Treasures carries everything Parton, from T-shirts adorned with her face or catchphrases like “I’m so backwoods” or “Dumb Blonde,” to butterfly stenciled water bottles and beer koozies to jewelry, and of course, her albums and videos. For the Parton memorabilia buff, the store displays two elaborate gowns she has performed in, and video screens play her DVDs on loop.

What’s in the works for Parton? Well, she’s currently writing her life story as a musical for stage as well as a feature film. “Anything I’ve ever done in this wonderful city of Nashville has been a great memory,” she says, “and this is special for me to have a little place right here in the heart of it all.”

Dolly Parton’s Trinkets & Treasures is located at 126 2nd Avenue North in Nashville, Tennessee. Store hours are 10am to 8pm Sunday through Friday and 10am to 10pm on Saturdays. For more information, visit Parton’s official site.