Complete with a disco ball and Pac-Man machine, Show Pony Vintage offers more than an ordinary shopping experience. The shop opened in January and is co-owned by vintage enthusiasts and sellers Emily Hawver and Sarah Hicks.

The store operates as a collective, in which vintage clothing vendors pay a monthly fee to use the space to promote their brand and sell their clothing. Show Pony takes care of the sales and takes a commission of each sale to pay for their services and labor. 

“When you shop with us, you’re not supporting one small business, you’re supporting 20 small businesses. I think it’s hard to say that for a lot of other businesses,” said Hawver, explaining the benefits of shopping at a collective like Show Pony. 

Both Hicks and Hawver have their own brands for sale in the store and had experience in vintage selling before opening Show Pony Vintage. Hicks noted that she already knew a number of the vendors from vintage pop-ups around Denver. After meeting Hawver a year ago, everything began to fall into place.

“Working with vintage is what I’ve loved to do for a really long time. I live up the street and was driving by, and saw that this space had gone up for rent. There were no other clothing stores in the area, so we looked at the property two days later, and then everything just kind of came together,” Hicks said.

The store’s design, replete with authentic 70s furniture, a pink ceiling and pop culture memorabilia, was one of the most enjoyable parts of opening the store for the pair. With the color scheme inspired by a vintage board game, Hicks and Hawver were intentional in the store’s design from the beginning.

“Newer vintage shops are streaming towards a modern look in their spaces where things are very simplistic. When I think of retro, everything was crazy and wild and there was so much going on. Having a space where we could actually explode and do something unique was a lot of fun. We wanted [the store] to be different in that aspect, where you walk in and you don’t know what the hell is going on,” said Hicks. 

Hawver echoed this sentiment, the pair agreeing that designing the space without any constraints was the most enjoyable component.

“It was kind of like a fresh start for both of us. If you come into my house you’d be like, ‘how is this your store?’. It’s a totally different style. This was something we could really just have fun with,” said Hawver.

Creating a welcoming space was also a priority. Hawver explained that the seating area located in the center of the store was an important component in the store’s setup.

“We knew we wanted to have a lounge area in the middle because our goal here when we started was to make it feel like a community and not just a store for profit. We wanted people to feel like they could come in and play a board game or just hang out on the sofa or play the Pac-Man machine,” said Hawver.

When it comes to the clothes themselves, Hawver explained that the selection was carefully curated, and that “true vintage” of the 50s and 60s is featured less at Show Pony than at other vintage stores.

“Sarah was really good about the curation because she’s lived in this area and knew the demographic that would be shopping here. We’re really seeing with Gen Z, which is our main demographic here, is that they’re wanting things from the late 80s, 90s and Y2K. Even though we love true vintage, there’s just not as big of a market over here for it,” said Hawver.

As fast fashion brands continue to profit, promoting sustainability in fashion has been a priority for the owners of Show Pony Vintage. Hicks explained that the low quality of the clothing fast fashion companies produces only leads to more waste, and that vintage clothing can be a great alternative to fast fashion.

“Things were so well made 60-plus years ago that you can find things in perfect condition that you can then wear for another 20 years. The fact that there are still hundreds of thousands of pounds of new clothing being made every day that we absolutely do not need is absurd to me,” Hicks said. 

The benefits of shopping vintage go beyond sustainability, however. Unlike thrifting, everything has already been curated, mended and cleaned by the vendors, Hawver explained. The setup of Show Pony Vintage also provides style inspiration for shoppers.

“With second hand, there’s a lot of people who want to get into it but don’t understand how to style pieces. A lot of these items some people would have never looked at before in a thrift store because they couldn’t see a vision for it, but our vendors have used their skill to pick those items and bring them in and show you how you could wear it and make it look cool,” said Hawver.

Hicks agreed, saying that the vendors’ curation allows shoppers the opportunity to find one-of-a-kind pieces.

“All of our vendors care about what they’re doing. There’s a lot of love and thought that goes into what they pick out and sell. When you shop at someone’s rack you can see their personality shine through. This isn’t like going to Target. Every single vendor is going to have something different and a unique style,” said Hicks.

Reasonable prices are also a staple at Show Pony. Hawver explained that because they do not charge their vendors high rent and commission, the vendors are, in turn, able to sell their clothing at a lower price than other vintage stores.

“Our two goals here are sustainability and community. When you have prices like that, you can create both because people come in and feel like they can buy the clothes that you’re reselling, which means you can keep more items out of the landfill. That then also builds a community because people start to trust you and know that you’re not going to rip them off,” Hawver said.

Hicks expanded on this idea of community, saying that they hope for the success of not only their vendors and their business, but for the success of all vintage stores as well.

“We should really be encouraging more people to shop in and open stores like this. There’s a lot of people that try to gate-keep vintage like they invented it. But here, we think of everyone as a family and want to support each other with what we do,” Hicks said.

Located on University Boulevard, the store has also been a significant draw for DU students. 

“The response from the DU students has just been great. We want to make sure that they feel welcome and know how much we love meeting them,” said Hawver.

Hicks and Hawver noted that although they are currently not accepting new vendors, they plan to have larger pop-up events over the summer that will host more vendors from the surrounding community, including student brands.

Show Pony Vintage is open from noon to 7 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and noon to 9 p.m. Friday through Saturday. For further questions or comments, reach out via email at howdy@showponyvintage.com or via Instagram @showponyvtg.