Nic and Maude

If you’ve ever dreamed of being the main character in a Western movie, Nic and Maude in The Factory at Franklin is the place to get decked out. Best friends Lia LaRue and Nicole Johnson, like many Middle Tennesseans, are locals with a penchant for a Western motif. Inside their deeply curated store, you’ll find clothing, leather accessories, cookbooks, jewelry and other great gifts. But the crowning offering of the store is its custom, authentic Western-style hats, which promise to feel less like accessories and more a part of you. The flagship shop, which opened at the end of 2024, allows visitors to design their own hat as the milliners handmake it from the ground up. Extra confidence pending.