Bringing a little sweetness to Town Center
Bradley’s Gift & Home to open a Farragut store, their second
Bradley’s Gift & Home, 141 N. Peters Road, is adding a second location in Farragut Town Center, 138 Biddle Farms Blvd., with plans to open in July.
“We want to bring a little sweetness to our hometown,” said Joy Hamlett, co-owner with her husband, Bradley “Brad” Hamlett, both of Farragut.
“We were hoping it would be spring, but at this point it looks like it’s going to be summer,” she added. “It’s been quite a process.
“We’re so excited.”
Having been in business for almost 30 years, “We’ve kind of been on a long journey,” Joy said, noting the business was started by her husband and his father, Jim Hamlett.
The original store opened in 1995 at the former Thrifty Nickel location near Pellissippi Parkway and across from Fort Sanders West.
“It was a very poor location at the time,” Joy recalled. “In 2000, they were struggling, deciding whether to close or move, and at the last minute they found a location, North Peters Road, which was across the street from our current location.
“They moved in next door to where I was working at the time,” she added. “That’s how (Brad) and I met … we got married in 2002.”
Up until that point, the store was just chocolate. “Once we got married, there was a need for us to continue to grow, and the shop I was working in prior closed, which was kind of like a gift shop,” Joy said.
“We just, kind of, set out to add more (merchandise) to the chocolate shop,” she added. “We went to market, started picking out other treasures — candles and linens and pretty things, home goods and gifts.
“It really took off. People would buy a box of chocolate with a little candle as a happy little gift.”
Fast-forwarding, “We have all kinds of treasures now,” Joy said. “We have jewelry, baby gifts and home décor.”
Among their signature favorite chocolates are their Rocky Top Caramel Corn Pop and Tennessee Walking Stick pretzels.
In 2012, they moved the store across the street and expanded.
Along with the Cedar Bluff store, Joy said, “we had a space downtown in the old Candy Factory building from 2012 to 2017,” then we sold that and moved to Market Square for a few years.
“But in 2020, we had to pivot and closed that one, but we kept our Cedar Bluff store,” Joy said. “We kept (the Cedar Bluff store) strong and going.”
However, “every since we closed the store downtown, we’ve been praying about it,” she said. “We want to grow again … we’re ready for the next step.”
Now, they are ready to expand again — this time in their hometown.
“This is our home,” Joy said.
