NOVEMBER 29, 2024

Today’s weather: Partly cloudy, cold. HIGH 42, LOW 28

THE LEDE

A Fixture Among Nashville’s Sewing Scene Faces the End

Chip Grimes has owned Textile Fabrics for 32 years. When he took over, the store was located in Green Hills, but moved multiple times until nine years ago, when it settled into its current location in Berry Hill. The clientele includes women who need a dress for the Swan Ball, drag queens assembling their outfits, touring musicians shopping for stage outfits, someone who does vintage furniture reupholstery and more.

Many customers have frequented the store for decades and have encountered the same staff for most or all of that time. 

Now, however, Grimes faces health issues that have caused him to make a difficult – but understandable – decision for all involved. Textile Fabrics is set to close as soon as it sells out of fabric – unless someone purchases the business.

FROM THE BANNER

TRANSIT CHALLENGE: The group that unsuccessfully opposed Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s transit referendum ahead of the November election is taking a new approach, filing suit in Davidson County Chancery Court on Wednesday seeking to declare the vote void. The plaintiffs are the Committee to Stop an Unfair Tax and Emily Evans, the group’s chair. They contend that the proposal violates state law by offering to pay for things that go beyond the scope of public transit, like sidewalks and signals. READ THE STORY

BEST OF THE REST ($ indicates subscription required)

• BILL BATTLE (1941-2024): He was the youngest college football head coach in the country when he took over at the University of Tennessee as a 28-year-old in 1970. (The Associated Press)

• SIX-STRING SEIZURE: The largest crackdown on fake musical instruments in history took place this week when 3,000 counterfeit Gibson guitars, produced in Asia, were seized. (UPI)

• MUST-SEE TV: How the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has become one of this country’s most-watched television events in recent years. (The New York Times)

• BIG SPENDERS: Black Friday kicks off a holiday shopping season during which customers are forecast to spend nearly $100 billion. (NPR)

• PLEASURE SEEKERS: How a clothing store, with locations around the world, has tried to make shopping a much more pleasurable experience. (The Washington Post) 

• HOLIDAY HEALTH: A rundown of what to do and what not to do in order to ensure that you don’t accidentally poison your guests when you host a holiday party. (Vox) 

• LAW OF THE JUNGLE: An emerging approach to socializing called ‘Zebra striping’ is considered a good way to navigate the holiday party season. (The Guardian)

• READING LIST: A rundown of the 100 most-read books of 2024. (Time)

Quote of Note

“If the ghosts of past, present and future would like to visit (the vandals) in the middle of the night and drop them and break them in pieces, I think that would be a perfect punishment.”

— Helen Ball, Town Clerk of Shrewsbury, England, after vandals destroyed an Ebeneezer Scrooge tombstone, which was used in the 1984 movie “A Christmas Carol” starring George C. Scott, and had become a tourist attraction in the years since.