At 22 years old, young adults are often just leaving college and still figuring out where to work for the rest of their lives. Class of 2021 LHS alum Owen Monahan, however, has already struck his dream job of running a vintage thrift store in Downtown Sioux Falls.
Located just off of 8th and Railroad, Monahan runs Thrift Heat in a second-floor space with rooms for storage and fitting. This is the store’s second location, the previous being located across the street as part of the Crane Centre. Now, Monahan has made this store his own with a loud, colorful aesthetic and a wide variety of decorations.“One thing I strive on, and I try to mainly curate, is going to be the display pieces that you typically aren’t going to see around here,” said Monahan.Monahan has some notable finds of a Michael Jordan cologne display, a Shaquille O’Neal cut out and a constantly running VHS setup, among many other trinkets. Even the practical aspects of Monahan’s store ooze with character, with retro sports cards being used as price tags and vintage shoe mirrors lining the store’s corners.What makes Monahan’s store truly impressive, however, is the hard work behind it.
“A lot of people jump into this and think that they’re gonna find stuff on the daily, or sell stuff on the daily, or their content is just gonna blow up on the TV and it’s really just trial and error,” said Monahan.
Monahan’s entrepreneurial journey started as early as his freshman year of high school and he has had plenty of time to grow since. First, he sold all online, but with COVID-19 hitting his junior year, he had the chance to open a personal appointment store. Then, after two years he was able to open his Crane Centre location and just about a year and a half ago he opened his current location.“Actually opening it up was, you know, enlightening to see everyone coming,” said Monahan.
Despite the ongoing expansions, though, Monahan has always been the sole operator of Thrift Heat.
“It’s a lot, but I enjoy each and every part of it, you know, from the shipping, the curating, the selling and like the displaying,” said Monahan.
Starting so young takes a lot of grit and bravery, but Monahan had plenty of inspiration. A collection of sports memorabilia and t-shirts from his father gave Monahan an appreciation for the style, as did the YouTube videos of Paul Cantu.
“His scheme was, like, very colorful, very bright, very vibrant and mainly 80s, 90s stuff. And that’s kind of what I copied,” said Monahan.
Cantu’s videos consist largely of hunting for valuable thrift finds, which makes up a large chunk of Monahan’s time nowadays. Scanning through thrift stores, garage sales, flea markets and even Facebook provides plenty of sources for Monahan’s store. In-person sales and trades have become a significant part of the business too.“I buy off the average buyer that buys here. If you know, they bought something, they want to bring it back, I’ll buy it again,” said Monahan.
Sometimes Monahan even makes trips to events in cities like Omaha or Minneapolis, but the large majority of his stock is thrifted and hand-sourced. Despite working solo and being just 22, Monahan has been wildly successful in setting up shop his own way. The opening and one-year anniversary of Monahan’s new store have been monumental landmarks, but with his work ethic, it seems these will only be topped with time.
“There’s a lot of businesses, you know, struggling that first year,” said Monahan. “And now pushing into my second year, [I’m] just living the dream day by day.”
