At first glance, Yellow Rose by Kendra Scott has all the trappings of cowboy style, what with all the hats and saddles and weathered wood.
But then there are the crystal chandeliers, hanging from pitched, timber-clad ceilings inside the brand’s 12 South store—its first location outside Texas—and casting a little glamour over an equally striking mix of worn rugs, carved wood, art and antiques.
It’s rustic, but not rough. Nostalgic, but not old-fashioned. And decidedly more feminine than the dark, heavy interiors Scott and her team wanted to avoid when developing the brand.
They call it “Western romance.”
“The concept speaks to the love of the old and new,” says Kelle Knight, senior director of PR for Kendra Scott. “It nurtures something beautiful out of the rugged West.”
For Scott, that mix is personal, and her own collections helped shape the 12 South store, with antiques gathered over years—many during trips to Round Top—mingling with pieces sourced right here in Nashville.
“Kendra has the most amazing eye and loves Round Top,” says Mark Topolosky, vice president of Brand Experience. “Sometimes she’ll find something with a specific intention, and sometimes she’ll just fall in love with a piece and be like, ‘We have to have this.’”
Many of those finds make their way to a warehouse in Austin, where they wait until the right project comes along. And Nashville was just the right spot for many of them.
“The beauty of this store is some of these things we’ve had for years, just waiting for them to find their home,” Topolosky says.
When the Yellow Rose team began imagining its 12 South location, simply recreating what it had done elsewhere was never the plan. Scott has been adamant that each store reflect the community around it, and in Nashville, inspiration came from beyond the neighborhood itself.
“We started to look at all these beautiful barns in the mountains of Tennessee and got really inspired by that,” Topolosky says. “So we took this idea of creating this old barn and bringing it right onto 12 South, and then putting the Kendra touch on it.”
Weathered wood clads the walls and ceilings and exposed beams emphasize the barn-like architecture. Crystal chandeliers, richly patterned rugs, ornate mirrors, florals and upholstered furniture provide the counterpoint.
“We love mixing styles,” Topolosky says.
That philosophy extends to the exterior, where the team worked with the landlord to clad the building and partnered with Nashville artist Josh Hendrix to create the custom stained glass across the storefront.
Inside, the Nashville references are sometimes obvious, sometimes less so. Custom-painted guitar cases from artist James Willis greet visitors near the entrance, while antique instruments and rusted guitars are tucked among displays. A vintage stage suit hangs framed near the fitting rooms, where velvet-covered walls and studded detailing take their cues from an old performance stage.
Other nods are easier to miss. While shopping locally at GasLamp Antique Mall, the team was drawn to antique quilts and used them as inspiration for a pair of French club chairs.
“We used many fabrics and upholstered every panel in a different fabric, so it felt like a patchwork quilt,” Topolosky says.
Even the trim around a fine-jewelry case was selected because it recalled a guitar strap.
“We tried to be really intentional in weaving in the storyline and being inspired by the local artistry and local culture,” Topolosky says.
Of course, Nashville is only part of the design story. The rest is all unmistakably Scott’s: her father’s hat, shadow-boxed above a photograph of him wearing it; dried yellow roses; an image of Scott in her truck; and a landscape of the family’s Texas ranch.
Taken together, they make the space feel less decorated than collected—part Tennessee, part Texas and deeply personal.
Stay Awhile
Beyond the retail floor, the Nashville location offers something no other Yellow Rose has had before: Beau’s Bar, the brand’s first full cocktail bar and its official debut into hospitality.
Named for Scott’s beloved horse, Beau, the bar began with a mirror—an oversized antique Scott found at Round Top several years ago, long before there was a Nashville location to put it in.
“I specifically remember when she called me and found it,” Topolosky says. “She’s like, ‘This has to go behind the bar one day.’”
When Nashville presented the opportunity to finally create that bar, the design already had its starting point. The mirror now anchors the back bar, surrounded by an eclectic collection of antique mirrors Scott had accumulated over years and stored in Austin.
If the larger store was conceived as a Tennessee barn, Beau’s Bar became its tack room. Weathered saddles and heirloom horseshoes mingle with the mirrors, while terracotta brick pavers used at the bar and in the bathroom were inspired by those in Scott’s own stable at her Texas ranch.
But Beau’s Bar represents more than another layer of the design. Gathering and community have long been part of the Kendra Scott experience, and the 12 South location gave the team an opportunity to take that idea considerably further.
“The space really permitted us, and the community of 12 South permitted us, to go in and build more of a hospitality opportunity,” Knight says.
Here, shopping can easily turn into staying, as guests move from browsing jewelry, boots and apparel to settling into a leather chair with a cocktail. And in a city where hospitality is as much a part of the culture as music, that feels particularly at home.
After all, Yellow Rose may have been born in Texas, but in Nashville, it was made to stay awhile.
