NOTE: Throughout the month of July, BrownwoodNews.com is publishing stories daily on 40 standout citizens under the age of 40 making a positive impact and contribution within the Brown County community.

One of the newest business owners in downtown Brownwood is thankful to have her storefront open after a delay in construction resulted in her residing within Shaw’s Marketplace for almost a year. Now, Rachel Howell is hopeful Luna Maya – and all local businesses – continue to thrive.

“We opened here on June 25, so it’s only been a couple of weeks, but it’s been going so well,” Howell, 25, said of the Luna Maya location at 406 Center Avenue. “It’s been steady business and I’m so grateful for the community here. They’ve all come to see me and wished me well and to see how it’s going and offer support. I’m so appreciative of everybody here. The community’s just wonderful.”

With the original intended location finally opening, Howell intends to maintain her presence within Shaw’s Marketplace as well.

“I started at Shaw’s whenever they opened last summer and that was a huge success,” Howell said. “I still have my booth there and I’m going to keep it and see how it goes having both locations open. With both locations I can reach different demographics that way as well.”

Howell and her parents, Ryan and Tommie Bailey, purchased the storefront location in the spring of 2020, just prior to the original COVID surge.

“Getting the store open here on Center was such a project,” Howell said. “My parents are the reason I’m able to be doing this right now. They are incredible, they’ve helped me so much, not just with encouragement and support but also my mom served as the general contractor for this project. She was making phone calls to people, getting them out here and helping me stay on top of that while I was keeping track at Shaw’s and making things were running smoothly. My dad also helped build out the building in here, so whenever you come in there’s a lot of facets of the interior that he made himself and that’s been great, to be able to tell people this has been a family project.”

Luna Maya is named after Howell’s 4-year-old daughter, Maya.

“She’s 4 and and she is the best little model,” Howell said. “Her little name tag says mini-boss and that’s truly what she is. She’s a good saleswoman, but she’s the reason I’m doing all this for sure.”

Among the items Howell offers at Luna Maya are, “baby clothing from newborn sizes all the way up to 6T,” Howell said. “I also offer gift sets and any kind of accessories you might need for your kiddos, as well as for the moms. We are soon going to be offering clothing for moms and dads, like T-shirts, hats and different things like that. We will be launching our baby registries here in the next month or so, and we have a few things in the works for events we will be hosting here as well and I’m excited to be able to announce those soon.”

Howell intends for Luna Maya to eventually be more than just a shopping destination.

“I hope we can keep growing,” Howell said. “I’m really excited about hosting events and having some things like a mom’s night out or Painting with Friends and having little events for the kiddos as well. I hope to transform Luna Maya into not just a baby store, but also into a venue for events. We have a little section in the back of the building that’s not accessible now to customers that we’re going to start working on in the future, so that’s my two-year plan – to have a little bit of an event center back there so that we can host baby showers and other events like that.”

Outside of work, Howell is an ambassador for the Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce and a member of its young professionals group.

“Whenever we finally set our opening date, I called (Chamber Executive Director) Kandice (Harris) at the chamber,” Howell said. “She’s a dear friend, and I told her I needed her help and her opinions. She gave me a lot of information and all the benefits that the chamber offers and all of the advertisement we get as business owners, and it’s amazing all the things they offer you. Getting to be an ambassador and young professional is wonderful for networking. That’s been so much fun to meet everybody there and go to ribbon cuttings. That’s why I wanted to be a part of it, to expand who I know here in Brownwood and get my name and my business name out there as well.”

Howell also plays a vital role at First United Methodist Church.

“I’m a small group leader there with the youth,” Howell said. “We do a lot of fun activities and I love working with the high school kids there.”