He first moved to Naseby to help out a pair of mates, but "one thing led to another" and the Dunedin man found himself the new owner of the town’s general store.
"It’s nice to be doing to something that is a bit more connected to making a difference in the community, that feels a bit more right."
Mr Brown said his first two weeks as owner had been a little bit busier than usual, because of the school holidays and a couple of curling competitions, and there had been "quite a lot" to wrap his head around.
But the locals and the outgoing crew had been very supportive.
Mr Brown said he was "real good mates" with Craig Sherson and Paul O’Sullivan - two of the four outgoing owners - whom he had met in Dunedin.
He had lived in Wellington for the past five years but returned to Dunedin for a lifestyle change after being made redundant during the Covid-19 pandemic, before moving to Naseby last September to help out at the store.
"Having grown up in Dunedin, I never ever would have wanted to come and live in Naseby, to be honest."
But coming back to Otago having done his dash working abroad, and only being about two hours away from Dunedin, Naseby felt "quite homely" and was where he wanted to be.
"It feels like coming home, in a way."
Other than the general store, Naseby had a pub and a cafe — all three were "quite important" to the life of the community, Mr Brown said.
He believed there was a bit of anxiety in the town that when change happened, something could be lost.
Mr Brown said he felt a sense of responsibility to maintain the previous owners’ setup, but felt that the locals had confidence in him.
He was exploring online shopping options and the possibility of selling more merchandise.
While he still had a few worries about the change he was optimistic this would fade once he had settled in.
"Being in the shop has enabled me to be able to meet everybody and get to know everybody to an extent really quickly.
"That’s exhilarated my settling in a little bit, it sort of felt far less daunting to be in this position of taking on one of the key businesses in the town."
