How Rachel Baty Was Almost Named Annie Jack

Ron Lyons (00:01):
If you could only have one meal for the rest of your life.

Rachel Baty (00:04):
Oh, this is gonna be easy.

Ron Lyons (00:06): Okay. Tell me

Rachel Baty (00:07):
Fried chicken, mashed potatoes and fried okra.

Ron Lyons (00:11):
Welcome to CelinaRadio.com recorded right here in Celina, Texas, a quiet little dusty sleepy town that

has absolutely nothing going on.

Ron Lyons (00:28):

Now, guys, we know so much better than that. Celina Isn't a dusty little sleepy town. It's the most amazing town in the United States. And if you don't believe me, just ask me and I'll tell ya. And part of what makes Salina so awesome is its people. And on the show today, we've got Rachel Baty. She is one of those people that makes Celina fantastic. And if you don't know the name, Rachel Baty, you're probably gonna know the store. The store is called Annie Jack, and it's located on the downtown square. And we had the opportunity to sit down with Rachel and talk all about Annie Jack, how she got to where she's at today, what her vision is for the future. And I may have just thrown a little curve ball in there as well. Now, Rachel was a very, very good sport and didn't end up throwing me out of her store.

Ron Lyons (01:26):

Although I think she probably should have. And you're gonna wanna listen to that, but more importantly, you're probably gonna wanna watch that because yes, we have video. So as you listen to the episode, you're going to hear where you can go and actually watch that part of the episode that probably put my life in danger. Just a little bit with Rachel, like I said, she was a good sport. She didn't throw me out. We did have a good time and I think you're gonna enjoy watching and listening to that. So guys let's get started with Rachel Baty of Annie Jack guys. I am here today with Rachel Baty of the very, very famous Annie Jack. Thank you so very much for being here today.

Rachel Baty (02:18): Of course,

Ron Lyons (02:18):
We're set up right in the middle of your store and it's a beautiful and amazing store. And I'm real

curious, what in your life led you to be right here right now in Salina, Texas owning this store? Rachel Baty (02:31):

Oh, great question. Well, as many people know we were a military family and then we were an oil family. And what that meant was lots and lots of moves. So we moved about every two years. Longest we'd ever lived anywhere was five years when we were the ones always out of Texas, even though we are Texans. So when we got back to Texas, we had been visiting Salina family here, gosh, maybe 25, 30 years. And this is where we wanted to land. So my husband got a job in Dallas and we said, Solana is our hometown. And since we weren't gonna move with this job, I got super involved. Downtown love. Downtown downtown was the jewel to me, got on lots of boards, line, ladies and friend, president main street, president, all kinds of thing, ways to get involved star to help start the farmer's market.

Rachel Baty (03:26):

That's now Friday night market. And because of that, I knew sunny page. She was one of the businesses down here at the time back in 2015. And she pulled me aside and said, Hey, I know, you know, a lot of people is there somebody you could think of that might wanna buy <laugh> or, you know, can you think of anybody? And we were at lunch and I said, don't ask anybody else I'm in. I want it. And she goes really? And I said, yeah, it was before Christmas. So she said, let me get through Christmas. And then we'll, we'll talk. And so January, February of 2016, and then we launched March and I slowly started changing it over to Annie Jack and never looked back.

Ron Lyons (04:11):
So is there a significance to the name, Annie Jack? Like what, where did that come from?

Rachel Baty (04:17):

Absolutely. Well, I'm adopted and first born. So boy or girl, they didn't care. My parents were from Houston and they were coming up to stay with my grandparents and outside of course of Canada. So they could get closer to Fort worth where I was coming from. I came from ed Gladney and my great- grandmother was living with my grandparents. My great-grandmother's name is Annie. My dad's name is Jack or we Jack. And so they're bantering back and forth. Boy, Jack girl, Annie. Okay. Well, whatever it is, let's just call it Annie Jack while my mom is on the sidelines going neither one of those are a biblical name. So we went with Rachel, but my whole life growing up, it was, you could have been Annie Jack, which actually alike.

Ron Lyons (05:06):

Wow. That is a very interesting story. I had no idea, but I love the fact that it came from, you know, this this, this, this, this melding of, you know, names that they were considering for you back in the day. And I'm guessing that they were never able to actually see this come to fruition. Did they live long enough to actually see Annie Jack the store?

Rachel Baty (05:32):
My mom lived the first year she died the first year I was in in aack at the other side of the square. My

dad died when I was at Baylor. Okay. So he didn't,

Ron Lyons (05:42):

So he didn't get to see it, but I'm certain that he is looking down upon us and very, very well pleased with you because this is an amazing store. And I've kind of followed you since you were on the other side of the square you were in that used to be a hotel, I believe.

Rachel Baty (05:56):
Is that correct? Yeah. It was the old Nelson hotel state

Ron Lyons (05:58):

Building and that, that was an amazing store. And, and the first time I walked by there, I was like, oh, I've gotta kind of do a walkthrough with a video camera. And, and I got with Justin and we did a little thing. You sat down with us and talked a little bit and, and were gracious enough to let us film. And to this day, I still love that video. It's just a fantastic video, but gimme an idea. I did a little research and I noticed that you call this a lifestyle boutique. What, what does that mean

Rachel Baty (06:25):

To me? A lifestyle boutique is the way you feel when you first walk in. I mean, I, when you walk in the door as a customer, I want you to feel at home. I want you to feel like, okay, relaxed. I can stay. Well, it it's about the smells, the music, the way it's laid out. Wait, that's why we have an espresso bar with small bites and a courtyard so that you feel like you can just stay here a while and feel at home.

Ron Lyons (06:50):
How blessed or lucky do you feel to be right here on the square right now? Oh,

Rachel Baty (06:55):

So fortunate. This is where I wanted to be from the day, day one, when we landed in Celina and it's hard to come by. And so I feel very blessed to be here and I love this new location. I'm front and center. I get to see all the action what's going on. Sometimes over at the other place, I'd have to kind of look around the corner and see what's happening on the square. Christmas time is fabulous. I got a front row view of the decorations and the huge tree. It's just amazing.

Ron Lyons (07:20):

It's just awesome that this all comes together for you like this, but we're not gonna get too, too much into any Jack. I'm a little more interested in Rachel Baty. So I've got some questions for you and none of these have you heard until now, I didn't send you any prep for this. So this is all straight off the cuff. So feel, be worried. You might ought to be worried just a little bit. If you heard my interview with Eddie Cofield across the square there,

Rachel Baty (07:48):
You know, I I'm, I'm kind of excited. I don't see girl talks standing somewhere.

Ron Lyons (07:52):
You don't see girl talk sitting here, but you never know what's gonna happen. Yeah. So

Rachel Baty (07:56): Yeah, you did bring a bag.

Ron Lyons (07:57):

That's right there. There, there, you never know what might be in that bag there, but give me first question. What's your best tip for making the world a better place?

Rachel Baty (08:07):
Be kind. You don't know what somebody's going through,

Ron Lyons (08:10):

Boy, isn't that the truth? I always say, just be good. Like you may not like this or have a problem with that, but just be good. I mean, we're all human beings and we all have these struggles and stuff. So I love that. I, I expected a little longer answer, but oh, sorry.

Rachel Baty (08:25):
It's pretty simple. Just be kind to people.

Ron Lyons (08:27):

I think that's, but that's a Testament to that is the fact that yeah, you can kind of answer that easily. Just be kind. I love that. If you could have dinner with three people from history, who would you invite? All of them at the same time, sitting down for the same meal. Who might you invite from history to sit down and have dinner with you?

Rachel Baty (08:48):
Okay. Well, the first one's gonna be Jesus.

Ron Lyons (08:50): Okay. That's

Rachel Baty (08:51): Good. Winston Churchill.

Ron Lyons (08:53): Wow.

Rachel Baty (08:54): And Audrey Hephburn.

Ron Lyons (08:55):
Okay. That is one. I didn't see coming. That's awesome. I love that. So where, where are you going to

take them?

Rachel Baty (09:03):
Can I go somewhere for drink

Ron Lyons (09:06): Then <laugh>

Rachel Baty (09:07): Dinner then dessert.

Ron Lyons (09:09):
Remember you have Jesus with you. So we need to,

Rachel Baty (09:11):
Well, I believe you would've had a drink with somebody.

Ron Lyons (09:14): Okay. Okay.

Rachel Baty (09:16):
Well I'm partial because toasted Walnut started in aack so there you go. See, we're going to toasted

Walnut

Ron Lyons (09:22):
Take to toasted Walnut. What are you gonna suggest to him at toasted Walnut?

Rachel Baty (09:26):
Hmm. Jesus might want the Wago burger.

Ron Lyons (09:29): <Laugh>

Rachel Baty (09:31):
Winston Churchill. Golly. It wouldn't be a salad. He, he might have, you know, he might go for the

brisket Patty milk. Okay. And definitely Audrey, Audrey and I are having the chicken and avocado.

Ron Lyons (09:44):
I love it. That is fan fantastic. Would you invite them across the square into your store? Oh,

Rachel Baty (09:52): Absolutely.

Ron Lyons (09:53):
<Laugh> that would be the best. Yeah,

Rachel Baty (09:54):
Absolutely. They've gotta have a espresso or maybe tea. Audrey might want tea.

Ron Lyons (09:59):

Right? Right. You could even let her try on some of these cute little outfits and stuff. I see on the wall over here. That wouldn't that just be, that

Rachel Baty (10:06):
Would be amazing. Amazing. Maybe she'd do Facebook live with me. Wouldn't that be

Ron Lyons (10:09):
Cool. I think you might become very famous at that point. So what, gimme an idea. What inspires you,

Rachel Baty (10:17): Helping people?

Ron Lyons (10:18):
Give me an idea of like helping people. How

Rachel Baty (10:22):

Well, like for the store, I, I love the daily interaction that happens. You know, people come in here and like I said, you don't know what they're going through, but sometimes they've just lost their husband or they've had a bad day or they're headed to a funeral or sometimes they're just not feeling good about themselves and they got to go somewhere. And so you, it's great to be able to like, help them find something that they feel good in and just keep trying things on until like they hit it and then they, and they leave here feeling good about themselves. And I look good in this and sometimes they don't wanna take the time to do that because the first thing they try on that they don't like, so you go, wait, wait, wait. You know, let's try this, let's try this. And they end up feeling good about it.

Ron Lyons (11:07):
I love that. That's amazing. So I'm gonna ask you this, if you could do something else, what, what else

would you do? What other career or what other job would you like to have? If it wasn't this

Rachel Baty (11:17):
It's, it's a close second, cuz I'm kind of doing it anyway in my real life, but maybe remodeling. Okay.

Because I have an interior design degree.

Ron Lyons (11:24):
Oh wow. Okay. Tell me about that remodeling. So like residential commercial, both

Rachel Baty (11:29):

Residential, I guess my, the sweet spot would be old houses, which we're about to undertake. We've got a house on Ohio and it's a 1912 house and we're currently putting our things in storage. We're gonna live in a little guest house in the backyard and go at it.

Ron Lyons (11:46):

So Celina right now we've talked about how crazy and amazing it is. And you're such a great spot right here on this square and everything. But what does Salina mean to you?

Rachel Baty (11:56):

Salina means home to me. Like I said, we were moving all the time and when we landed here, it was an instant nostalgic home feeling and we wanted to do everything we could to make it home and make it where we felt like we had really landed in our hometown, our forever town, so to speak.

Ron Lyons (12:17):
And does it scare you or worry you or are you embracing all of the growth right now?

Rachel Baty (12:22):

I love the growth. I know it's hard for some people sometimes, but as long as I believe, as long as the squares stays the jewel of downtown and we really are conscientious of what comes down here and we keep that old town feeling like you feel like you've stepped back in time a little bit. And it's small business. It's mom and pop feel it's it's well done. And, and the EDC and city are doing a good job of that. Right now. I've been through several administrations and I've, I'm loving this one. They're doing a good job of creating that downtown feeling. Then you've got the best of both worlds. Then you've got this old town kind of are in the country. You've got a square that a lot of towns don't have anymore. But you're accessible to all the modern conveniences. It's it's the best of both worlds. It really is.

Ron Lyons (13:14):

I'm I'm gonna switch gears on you just a little bit and I'm gonna throw you a couple of curve balls and the first, yeah, I know you're super excited trust. There's no girl talk involved. So if you could only have one meal for the rest of your life,

Rachel Baty (13:27):
Oh, this is gonna be easy.

Ron Lyons (13:28): Okay. Tell

Rachel Baty (13:29):
Me, probably taking mash potatoes and fried Oak gro.

Ron Lyons (13:31):

Oh, you are such a Southern girl. That is crazy. That's awesome. If somebody was gonna write a book about you, what would the title be? Then? Let me, let me throw one little curve ball in there. It's your worst enemy? Writing the book.

Rachel Baty (13:47): She can't be stopped.

Ron Lyons (13:49):

I love that. That is fantastic. Very, very good. So when you were growing up, obviously you didn't think, okay, one day I'm gonna own a lifestyle boutique call Annie. Jack. What did you think you were gonna do when you were growing up?

Rachel Baty (14:04):

Well, like all little girls you thought, oh, you know, you thought you would hope that you would get married. And I got to marry the man of my dreams. I literally had a crush on this man since seventh grade. Wow. Okay. True story in school. So your notes between, you know, your friends would, if they got taken up by a teacher, we had code names. Okay. Right. Hers was her Spanish name. Mine was Mrs. Bey.

Ron Lyons (14:29): Really? <laugh>

Rachel Baty (14:30):
That's how bad I had it for this man.

Ron Lyons (14:34):

That's fantastic. I absolutely love that. Wow. What a great story. What a great life story. Yeah. It's, it's real obvious why you are where you are and that's just fantastic. So I have a little surprise for you. Something that you don't know. I actually have a model coming in today that I would like for you to kind of dress up and maybe accessorize just a little bit. Would you mind doing that?

Rachel Baty (14:57): No, it's what we do.

Ron Lyons (14:58):

Okay. All right. Well, I actually just heard the doorbell and here he comes right now. All right, guys, we're cutting away from the microphone set up for the podcast in Annie, Jack. And we're gonna go to on camera, audio for the podcast. It's not gonna sound quite as good, but you're gonna understand what happened. Justin Steiner, one of the Salina city Councilman who's about 6, 6, 5, and 290 pounds came walking in. And of course, that kind of caught Rachel Baty off guard. She had to dress him in an outfit and accessorize him. So if you want to actually see that video, go to the video link on Celina, radio.com and you'll be able to see that. But for right now, let's, let's go back to any Jack and Justin Steiner walking in the door

Rachel Baty (16:00): Seriously. Okay. No one.

Justin Steiner (16:07):
Well, Hey Rachel, do you have anything that

Rachel Baty (16:14):
Okay. Okay. How did you get,

Justin Steiner (16:19):
Were you expecting someone else?

Rachel Baty (16:21): Well,

Justin Steiner (16:22):
I'm looking for something for myself today and I just didn't know if you had anything

Rachel Baty (16:27): <Laugh>

Justin Steiner (16:28): Could, that would fit me.

Rachel Baty (16:29):
Okay. Well typically we don't do extra, extra large, but I bet a Kimona would work for you. Kimona okay.

Yes. Let's try kimono. Sounds good. First off. I need to ask you, are you okay with your arm showing?

Justin Steiner (16:41):
Oh yes. I, I mean, I I've really defined arms, so I'm good with that.

Rachel Baty (16:45):
Okay. So we can go sleeveless if you want. Okay. I'd

Justin Steiner (16:48): Have to try

Rachel Baty (16:48):
That. Let's let's try kimono.

Justin Steiner (16:50):
I like this. This is look these colors. I like

Rachel Baty (16:53):
That. Okay. let, let's try this one on. Yeah. Okay. All right. Okay. You ready?

Justin Steiner (16:58): I'm ready. I'll try. Okay.

Rachel Baty (17:00):
Go. There we go. Okay. Let's see. Terrible. All right. But I think you need a hat. This one? Yeah, this one's

adjustable, so

Justin Steiner (17:14): Perfect. I think that'll be

Rachel Baty (17:16):
That's the back side right here. Yeah.

Justin Steiner (17:21):
How look at that. That's actually really nice.

Rachel Baty (17:24):

<Laugh> okay. How about let's keep accessorizing and we will do some jewelry. Jewelry. Okay. You need jewelry. You need some bling. Okay. Let's see. We have blues. We've got pink. I'm not sure if this is, they are stretched.

Justin Steiner (17:42):
Do you have, I know I have. I'm big boned. Yeah.

Rachel Baty (17:45):
You, yes. You have a big personality as we like to say. Let's see.

Justin Steiner (17:52): I don't have my eared.

Rachel Baty (17:54):
Oh yeah. I don't do clip-ons. Don't

Justin Steiner (17:56): Do it.

Rachel Baty (17:57):
Let's see if this is gonna let's see if that stretches.

Justin Steiner (18:01): There

Rachel Baty (18:01):
You go. Okay. We've accessorized. Well, maybe a necklace. Let me necklace. And if we pop your collar

out.

Justin Steiner (18:09): Oh, that's perfect.

Rachel Baty (18:10):
There. Okay. There we go. Okay. Okay. Now and now we need a necklace, something long. <Laugh>

Justin Steiner (18:19):

Maybe I should wear this for my last city council meeting.

Rachel Baty (18:23): <Laugh>

Justin Steiner (18:24):
I think, I think it could be nice.

Rachel Baty (18:25): Was this gonna fit over

Justin Steiner (18:26):
Your head? I think so. We got big nogging

Rachel Baty (18:31):
Okay. There you go. Hat on you are you're you're ready for anything.

Ron Lyons (18:46):

All right, guys. That was Rachel Baty. Rachel, thank you so very much. Rachel is such a, just a wonderful person. She's the magic behind Annie Jack on the square. And she's such a kind heart. If you get a chance, stop in, say hello, grab a coffee, shop the store, sit out on the back patio and just enjoy your day. There. It's that kind of place. And of course, Justin, thank you so much for being such a good sport coming in and doing that. I consider you a friend and I'm very thankful for your <laugh> your sense of humor and guys, this is Salina radio.com. This is what we do. It's fun. This is not boring stuff. If you think that you've got something that you wanna share with the world and maybe do an episode of CelinaRadio.com, go down to the bottom of the page and register as a guest.

Ron Lyons (19:42):

Or if not that there's a little blue button that kind of floats around all over the website. You can click on that and leave us a message in real time, either way. If you will share this show with your friends, tell your friends about it, help us keep this podcast. Number one in Salina, Texas. And we're just extremely grateful for all of your help, everything you do every time you listen, every time you share this. So guys, that's gonna wrap it up for today and I'm gonna leave you the way I always do with a very sincere God bless. And I'll see you on the next show.