June 25, 2026

It’s late afternoon on a Thursday on the second floor of 8th & Railroad Center.

Not exactly a prime shopping hour or location — but customers are browsing Thrift Heat Vintage anyway.

“Hey There Delilah” by the Plain White T’s, released in 2005, plays overhead, while a retro video game scrolls on a rear-projection television.

This is the step back in time birthed by Owen Monahan, who was born just two years before that hit single debuted.

“I’m learning as I go,” the 23-year-old said.

His business began about as grassroots as it gets: As an eighth grader, he began riding his bike to secondhand stores and finding vintage items as a hobby.

By high school, he was selling thrifted merchandise and sneakers before opening a storefront in The Crane Centre in 2020 while he was doing school remotely during the pandemic, with hours by appointment. He expanded into his current space with regular hours in 2023.

Next month, Thrift Heat Vintage takes its next big step in business: a move to Phillips Avenue, where Monahan’s blend of classic and collectible merchandise is about to find a broader local audience.

“I’m super-excited,” he said. “It’s a surreal moment for me. It’s bittersweet leaving here, but I got too comfortable in the last year, and when you’re comfortable, you’re not growing as you potentially could.”

Monahan does know something about managing growth, though.

His Instagram following has swelled to 180,000; add in other social media platforms and he reaches closer to 230,000.

He has shipped merchandise to nearly every state and about 35 countries.

“I do everything myself, which is crazy,” he said, in part crediting the aesthetic of his store for attracting audiences.

“The walls and flooring play a part,” he said. “I would make videos of the store. This is the perfect spot to have a coffee and post a bunch of clips, and the sunlight I got was amazing for content.”

His inventory is only partially reflected in the current store. The new space at 222 S. Phillips Ave., which Monahan will lease once MK Threads Boutique moves across Phillips Avenue, is considerably larger and will allow him to expand his selection.

“I’ll have a lot more display and decor,” he said. “And then I’m going to carry a bunch of vinyls and records, like a record wall, and try my best to get in older video games, but mainly just for people to play.”

He’s already selling hundreds of T-shirts, spanning from the 1980s into the early 2000s and often reflecting pop culture. He plans to expand selection for women, including designers, and kids, with apparel and a wider variety of toys.

“And I want to create a little (video game) lounge or vintage nostalgic living room where people can hang out,” he said. “Right now is a pivotal time for secondhand shopping and nostalgic pieces that are older and gently used.”

He sources nationwide, including at conventions, but said he enjoys buying locally when customers bring in items.

“Even within the last couple weeks — Canton’s citywide rummage or Hartford’s — I’ll drive out at 6 or 7 a.m. and spend the morning doing that and be back here by noon to open.”

He stopped selling new sneakers around the end of last year and focused solely on more collectible shoes and overall vintage items, attracted by their quality “and the attention to detail they put into stuff back in the day,” he said.

“I always tell people I am just a kid who wishes he grew up in the ’90s or ’80s. I find it fascinating.”

Monahan will get the keys to his new space soon and plans to be open July 17 on Phillips Avenue.

“What’s kept me here is no one has done it yet, and I want to be that person to have a staple vintage store downtown that’s known,” he said.

“I want to help Sioux Falls bring that here because I see how  much growth this has brought me, and I think other people are capable of doing it as well, and it would be cool to match the energy some of the bigger places have. Before I opened the store, I traveled a lot and went to vintage stores and got a feel and always felt like Sioux Falls definitely could have something similar. As I get older, the more I love Sioux Falls with the growth and everything happening.”

He also plans to continue the Second Saturday Market, which he began last year on the east side of the building at 401 E. Eighth St. It runs from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. on the second Saturday of each month through October.

“I personally stopped vending; I just like to host it for others,” he said. “Last year was a good kickoff, we saw a great turnout for all of them, and this year we increased by five to 10 vendors each event, with five food trucks instead of three, and each event has gradually gotten better.”

Monahan already sees himself becoming part of the broader downtown retail community. He hopes the store will be a stop on the August Art & Wine Walk and anticipates bringing his own special events like an in-store Easter egg hunt and rotating seasonal windows.

“He’s going to do so well on Phillips Avenue,” said Kevin Tupy, CEO of Cresten Capital, which owns the building.

“I’m proud of him. He’s getting out of his element, he’s going up in rent and in space. I want that kind of business on Phillips Avenue.”

He discovered Monahan on Instagram and then reached out to learn more about him.

“I like him because he’s tapped into a market I can’t tap into … and he’s a grinder. He really doesn’t take time off,” Tupy said. “Just think of what he’s done in a second-floor retail shop with minimal signage. I drove by it looking for it. So he’s doing the brunt of it (the business) from an Instagram account, and I think he’s going to double his business with a good spot on Phillips in the core of downtown.”

Thrift Heat Vintage will be next door to Tupy’s future bar and restaurant, the science fiction-themed Area 52, which is planned to open later this year and also will have pop culture-inspired decor.

Both businesses “are bringing in that crowd, millennial and Gen Z,” Tupy said. “It covers today’s Stranger Things to Star Trek. I just think it meshes well with the nostalgia of some of the products he offers and the eras he covers.”

Thrift Heat Vintage also will bring a symbol of Sioux Falls nostalgia when it opens: an 8-foot display case Monahan purchased from Jeff Danz at Zandbroz Variety.

“We’re excited to have Owen downtown,” Danz said. “We started this summer with four empty retail spaces. I think Owen coming in and MK Threads getting a new owner and the guy going into the old Lauriebelles has me feeling a lot more comfortable about the coming years, and hopefully those folks succeed.”

Downtown boutique to move across Phillips Avenue