Amelia Schafer
ICT + Rapid City Journal
RAPID CITY, S.D. – At 27 years old, Sicangu Lakota woman Caitlin Hein became the owner of two businesses in Rapid City all within the span of two-and-a-half years.
“I do take a lot of pride in being a woman-owned business and now I have two businesses, which is just crazy,” she said.
On August 1, Hein opened He Sapa Vintage in downtown Rapid City, only a brief walk away from her original store, Garbage Tale Vintage.
While Hein had dreamed of opening a second location, she said she didn’t imagine it would come this soon.
Three weeks ago, Hein was presented with an opportunity she said just felt right. E’lan’s Vintage Boutique in downtown Rapid City was closing, and the owner asked Hein if she’d be willing to take over the business and storefront.
“I’m on cloud nine,” she said. “Everything is falling into place exactly how it should be.”
Two and a half years ago, Hein opened Garbage Tale Vintage in downtown Rapid City. Over time, the business expanded and has now begun to run out of space, a good problem to have for a vintage store, Hein said.
Customers were asking for more menswear, something Hein aims to accommodate for in the new shop and Western fashion is big right now with celebrities like Beyonce sporting a country look. Both of these trends aligned perfectly with Hein’s vision for a new business.
The new store, He Sapa Vintage, is an ode to Western fashion and an opportunity to expand the city’s menswear scene.
“We live in the Midwest in the heart of cowboys and there’s a need for it (menswear),” she said. “We have a lot of male shoppers.”
Hein’s first store, Garbage Tale Vintage, is a quirky, eccentric pop-culture store with more women’s items. At 21, Hein created Garbage Tale initially as an online business with popup sales around town occasionally. While Garbage Tale is still who she is and reflects her style, Hein said, the new store comes from a more mature place and also reflects Hein’s German and Lakota heritage.
“Now that I’m 27 I want to embrace my culture, heritage and roots,” Hein said. “This is the perfect spot to do it.”
The existing storefront from E’Lan’s Vintage featured a large floral mural comprised of a large floral scene captured in 1960s Germany. Oglala Lakota artist Joe Pulliam painted a mural of a Lakota woman on horseback carrying a baby over the flowers.
This mural, Hein said, is a representation of her heritage. Hein’s great-grandfather Larry Hein is German and married a Sicangu Lakota woman, her great-grandmother Elora Antoine. The woman carrying an infant represents Hein and her eight-month-old son Elliot.
Both of Hein’s great-grandparents are still alive and were surprised by the artwork. Her great-grandfather’s photography is also displayed in the store. Film photos from his travels across the world and newspaper clippings of her great-grandmother’s family’s escapades line the walls.
“I want to incorporate my family and who I come from into the shop,” Hein said. “I’m from the Black Hills and Rosebud. I am very, very happy, honored and fortunate. My son Elliott is a huge part of who I am and I want to show him where he comes from. He’s the motivation for the second store.”
Eventually, Hein would like to allow Indigenous artists to sell their work out of both shops. Last week she put out a call for Lakota artists on Facebook and received an overwhelming amount of responses.
“I would love this to be a collective, curated space for artists in the area,” Hein said.
This story is co-published by the Rapid City Journal and ICT, a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in the South Dakota area.
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