About Us
"Our baskets make great gifts for birthdays, thank you, sympathy, get well, or any time and will be dressed with a special bow in almost any color to match the occasion! Add mugs, balloons, angels, inspirational books, stuffed animals and other gift items available in our store for that extra personal touch. Take a look to see just what we have to offer and give us a call to customize your basket!"
A Little Something About Us
The greatest thing about our shop is our history. The Sunshine Shop is one of the oldest businesses still in operation in Nashville, TN. Always family owned and operated, The Sunshine Shop has seen four generations of gift makers. Since 1944, we've created our baskets with the taste and style of the time. That's 63 years of design ideas for your baskets; enough experience to be the premiere place for your gift-giving needs.
It all started in 1944 when a local fruit and vegetable wholesaler named Lon Tanksley decided to make fruit baskets for his friends and employees at Christmas time. For this task, he enlisted the help of his daughter, Mary Ann Papuchis, and her best friend, Aileen Rogers. Mrs. Rogers developed our first fruit basket design for Mr. Tanksley that year. The gifts were so popular among their recipients that Mr. Tanksley began to sell fruit baskets as a side business out of his wholesale produce warehouse, creating the first gift basket shop in Nashville, TN. After closing down the wholesale business, Mr. Tanksley opened The Sunshine Shop, supplying Mary Ann and Aileen with new and exciting items for their gift baskets. When Lon Tanksley retired in 1954, he left his shop to Mary Ann and Aileen. In 1962, they settled in an old house in midtown Nashville, located at 1912 Church St., where The Sunshine Shop remains to this day.
When Mary Ann retired in 2002, Aileen's daughter, Janet Stewart, become a partner in the business with her mother. Janet has revitalized The Sunshine Shop with new and creative gift ideas from her extensive retail experience. Although Aileen is leaving most of the work to her daughter these days, she can still be found at the shop on occasion, giving a final thumbs-up on our products and sharing her vast knowledge of design experience with the new generation of employees: her grandchildren and friends. Come by and see why The Sunshine Shop is Nashville's leader in gift giving for over 60 years!