Keeping Trussville in style: Brown expands business, opens boutique

Rebecca Brown, owner of Rebecca Brown’s — A Baby and Children’s Boutique, calls her recent move to a bigger space in downtown Trussville a “God thing.”

She didn’t have plans to move or expand her boutique anytime soon, thinking it may be possible in 10 or 20 years. But a specific customer came into her boutique in February while it was still located behind Edgar’s in Trussville.

The customer, Angie Gunner, owns many properties around Trussville. She told Brown that the tenant for a building she owns — the former Gigi’s Boutique space — was moving out.

“She asked when could I look at it, and I was like, ‘Now!’” Brown said, laughing. “So I got in the car and we drove down here and looked at it.”

The new space, located at 1 Office Park, is between Kuttin’ Up and About Face. It’s right in the middle of Trussville — the kind of space that Brown always wanted to move into, she said. But she was nervous about making the jump.

Then she got an offer she couldn’t refuse. Ben and Amanda Short, owners of Trussville To Go, offered to split the space with her.

“Ben was like, ‘We’ll split it, and I’ll put a wall up. Let’s just do it,’” Brown recalled.

Rebecca Brown’s and Trussville To Go moved into the shared space three weeks later.

“I’m telling you, this was God-sent,” Brown said. “I feel like this is my spot and God was like, ‘This is it.’”

She’s already gotten new walk-in customers because of the store’s visibility.

“I was really surprised,” she said. “You get giddy inside. Like oh my gosh, this is real. This is it. It’s reassuring.”

Brown was born and raised in Trussville. She graduated from Hewitt-Trussville High School in 2006 and then went to the University of Alabama to study education.

“I went into education, and I liked it,” she said. “But I’ve always been into fashion.”

After teaching middle school students for eight years, she opened an online women’s boutique to “get her feet wet” in the fashion industry.

Working online was fun, she said, but she wanted to have face-to-face interactions with her customers. She opened Rebecca Brown’s brick-and-mortar store in 2018, this time focusing on newborn and children’s clothing.

“With teaching, I felt like I was a counselor, a nurse, an educator. I was all these things, and I was going to miss that,” she said. “But people come in here and tell me their stories.”

Brown also loves being a part of the community that she grew up in, she said.

“When I was younger, Trussville was very small,” she said. “It’s funny how much it’s grown. Even the new people coming in, how welcoming Trussville is. And how much they love it. I love being a part of the community. I never thought I could have gotten here.”

Rebecca Brown’s sells clothing for newborns and children up to four years old. For more information, visit rebecca-browns.square.site or call 205-994-1299.