Brad Paisley and his wife, Hallmark star Kimberly Williams-Paisley, first opened their free Nashville grocery store — fittingly called The Store — in 2020, and demand has since grown significantly.
“Food insecurity in the Nashille area is at a ten year high and what this place is doing to feed locals is BRILLIANT,” Kimberly’s sister, Ashley Williams, wrote on Instagram on October 23.
In 2022, the couple decided to turn The Store into a Christmas toy store, giving families in need the chance to get their kids the gifts they really want. In 2025, The Toy Store moved to a larger location at the Colman Park Community Center. The reason is simple: The need for a place like The Toy Store became even greater than the couple initially planned.
New, Bigger Location Elevates Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams-Paisley’s The Toy Store
“It’s really exciting. We outgrew our original location because, of course, it was at The Store, which is currently operating and serving our customers,” “The Sister Swap” star told “NewsChannel 5.” “And we had to move to a bigger location. It’s bigger and better.”
“For me, this was the vision in the beginning,” Brad chimed in. “When we first started talking about doing The Store in general, the Christmas aspect of this, and turning it into a toy store at Christmas, was the goal. To me, I know that feeding people is the mission for us. But nothing illustrates the vision of dignity and choice like this.”
“When you see kids come in and get to pick what they want, it’s just the best encapsulation of what we want to do,” he continued. “And there’s just no better feeling. Everybody at Christmas wants a kid to get what they want, and have a good Christmas, and this is really special for me as a child at heart to get to see this.”
600 Volunteers Helped Create the Annual Toy Store Event
The Toy Store might be the brainchild of Kimberly and Brad, but the entire community helps make it happen. Six hundred volunteers helped make kids’ Christmas dreams come true this year. While The Toy Store has corporate sponsors like Sam’s Club, it also depends on donations. This year, bicycles and guitars were among the generous contributions.
Elf on the Shelf is also a sponsor of The Toy Store, and according to Brad, the family’s elves, Pinocchio and Snowflake, inspired his new song “That Crazy Elf (On The Shelf).”
“We have the two most creative elves in all the Middle Tennessee area in our house for some strange reason,” Brad said. “I don’t know why, but they’re really wild. They’re bizarre. They do things — I just don’t know how they think of these things.”
This year’s The Toy Store saw more than 1000 kids show up with their parents the weekend of December 5 to pick out toys. According to Kimberly, “Many chose gifts they wanted to give away to their loved ones.” Who knows, maybe they’ll need an even bigger space next year.
