Three years ago, Mark Schmidt and Greg Fox opened Nashville Spice Company next to Weedpatch Music in the alley next to the courthouse.

They began with 110 spices and blends, using a blender on the East Coast who creates blends the old fashioned way.

But as the demand increased and so did their merchandise, they saw a need for more space.

Customers can now find Nashville Spice Co. in Coachlight Square, next to Country Heritage Winery, at 227 S. Van Buren St.

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With twice the square footage, Schmidt said they’ve gone from being a food shop to a food store.

“We like to look at this like a little gourmet market,” Schmidt said. “We do full samplings on the weekend. When we’re able to do full samplings, it helps the consumer know what they’re buying. You’re spending your hard-earned money here; we want you to go home and be satisfied with what you purchase.”

The store now carries 437 blends and spices, and merchandise from about 45 vendors whose specialties are sauces, spreads, jams, hot sauce, mustards, baking, mixology, maple syrup, peanut butter, honey, jams and dry goods — “a little bit of everything,” Schmidt said. Their vendors work in small batches or artisan flavors, and they come from Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and Tennessee.

The store offers a “spice of the month,” recipe cards, and a rewards program with store incentives and points.

Their old space across from the courhouse will not sit empty, however. Schmidt and Fox have plans to reopen the doors in March, but as a home goods store: Nashville Spice Co. Home.

Working with artisans such as weavers, potters, wood turners, wood carvers and furniture makers, the former spice shop space will be geared toward the home and will be all artisan-done — not mass-marketed import.

“The spice store slogan is ‘the art of food,’” Schmidt said. “The home store is ‘the art of living.’”

Nashville Spice Co. Home will be phase two of the business. “The intent of the business was for, when Greg decides to retire,” Schmidt said, “we wanted to have a branded set of companies that would be our primary sort of income.”

Schmidt is in the store more now than Fox, who travels a lot with his work in corporate health care.

Fox recently became president of the Brown County Chamber of Commerce.

“He is embedded in the town in a completely different way,” Schmidt said on behalf of Fox.

Schmidt is a wildlife painter, doing a lot of work with the Cincinnati and Nashville, Tennessee zoos. “I like to do animals in clothing,” he said. Their home store will feature his work.

Nashville Spice Co. adds to the flavor and richness in the community in a variety of ways as well, not simply in being a unique business. The company has partnerships with several local restaurants and is working with one in particular to develop a personal blend.

The partners are constantly expanding and look forward to new projects as their business grows.

“One of the things that we enjoy is that we’re able to do a lot of lectures in the community,” Schmidt said. He recently lectured for the C4 program in Columbus, they’ve participated in the Brown County Art Gallery’s Victorian Tea, and they also lecture at the Seasons Lodge and Conference Center every year.

They also participate in charitable efforts, working with the historical society, literacy coalition, high school and humane society. “We try and be as philanthropic as possible,” Schmidt said. “Children’s causes, animal causes and, of course, the history of the town are three very big things with us.”

Nashville Spice Co. has been attracting local and national attention. customers, but also throughout the state and nation. Their first year of business they won a Bloomie award in Bloomington; in early 2018, the store was named the Brown County Chamber of Commerce’s Business of the Year.

The company has worked with the Savory Swine in Columbus and Moody’s Butcher Shop in Indianapolis, and it’s shipped goods as far as Alaska and Canada.

The partners record weekly videos that discuss spices and new product alerts, then post them to social media.

“Since the videos,” Schmidt said, “I got stopped in an elevator at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. They said, ‘I love your shop.’ And I said, ‘How in the world do you know I have a shop?’” They told Schmidt that they drove to Brown County from Cleveland. “’We watch your videos and we recognize you by your glasses,’” the woman told him.

Looking to the future and thinking of new endeavors, Nashville Spice Co. would like to open a commercial kitchen and offer cooking classes and demonstrations. That would be phase three. “We have a few ideas, but that’s on our radar to start very soon,” Schmidt said.

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Address: 227 S. Van Buren St., Suite A, Nashville

Social media: Facebook, Instagram and YouTube at nashvillespicecompany

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