Controversial Middle Tennessee Lewis Country Store set for January sale, official confirms
Nashville’s notorious Lewis Country Store — known for its controversial political ties — will soon change owners.
The Scottsboro gas station and marketplace that was recently found to be hosting a gym for a local white supremacist group above the store will soon be purchased by Nashville-based Tri Star Energy, a fuel service company that owns more than 200 gas station convenience stores across the south, including the Twice Daily chain, Sudden Service chain and White Bison coffee chain.
Dawn Boulanger, Tri Star Energy’s vice president of marketing, confirmed the deal and said the sale is expected to close on Jan. 2.
When asked whether the store’s heavy emphasis on combining retail with fiery political statements will continue, Boulanger said it will be “company owned and operated” and “run like all of our other stores.
“Anytime we acquire a store, we fold them into our culture and run them as our stores,” she said.
Store has long history of controversy
Lewis Country Store was opened in 2004 by the late Jimmy Lewis and his son Brad Lewis—the current owner and self-described “actual literal Nazi.” The combination country store, restaurant and gas station sits at 5106 Old Hickory Blvd. in the Scottsboro neighborhood in northwest Davidson County, on the Cheatham County border. About half of the 5.7-acre busy corner property had been listed for sale for $5 million, but the listing was removed from the market in June.
Gabrielle Hanson, the store’s listing agent at the time, was a Franklin elected official who became known for her failed run for city mayor in late 2023, following weeks of political controversy.
The Lewis Country Store is no stranger to controversy: For many years, explicit, often offensive messages have been displayed on its digital roadside sign along with politically-charged merchandise inside.
In 2016, Shell even removed its branding from the Lewis Country Store because of the signs.
The Tennessean reported a string of contentious sign messages in 2017, beginning with one that offered a "$50,000 reward for Kathy Griffin's head delivered." The message was likely a reaction to a controversial photograph featuring comedian Kathy Griffin posing with a fake, severed Donald Trump head.
More: Red prom dress altercation: Appeals court rules man's suit against Kathy Griffin can go on
In a bold act of defiance against Davidson County's COVID-19 mask mandate in 2020, Lewis Country Store placed a sign at the entrance stating, "if you are scared, stay at home! If you are afraid to be within 6 feet of another person, please do not enter."
In June 2023, a Southern Poverty Law Center investigation found that the family-owned log cabin market was harboring members of a local white-supremacist group "to network and train for hand-to-hand combat” in a private gym above the store.
The SPLC inquiry revealed recent—and long-spanning—social-media interactions between the store and members of the Tennessee Active Club, an offshoot of the fascist and neo-Nazi group Rise Above Movement based in Southern California.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville's Notorious Lewis Country Store set for January sale
