Las Vegas vintage clothing shop keeps it ‘Neon’

Tucked inside the downtown Las Vegas shopping center Fergusons Downtown is a colorful vintage store with a doormat that says “gayest place in town.”

Inside the store, known as Neon Cactus Vintage, shoppers are greeted by co-owners and married couple Negar Hosseini-Nasab and Alicia Avery.

Unique and bold clothing and accessories wrap around the space while abstract patterns are painted on the ceiling. There’s also handmade stained glass pieces, made by Avery, hanging around the shop.

“I think our colorful clothing in general is something that people think of when they think about our shop,” said Hosseini-Nasab. “The patterns, the colors and the textures are things that we tend to pull.”

Most of the clothes are locally sourced or donated to the shop, which specializes in all-inclusive sizing. Hosseini-Nasab and Avery also donate clothing to other local centers and donation sites.

“We make sure that once they leave our store, they find another home … we’re really mindful of where we source our materials,” said Hosseini-Nasab. “For instance, Alicia does stained glass and she uses recycled glass to create pieces.”

Neon Cactus Vintage originally operated as a pop-up shop by Las Vegas-native Hosseini-Nasab, until Avery joined the business to open its permanent location in December 2019.

Hosseini-Nasab grew up thrift shopping “mostly out of necessity” and eventually developed a passion for it.

“The store is like our baby, and it’s like just a really great way to get to know people in our community,” said Hosseini-Nasab. “We find these garments with such extensive history. And then we get to connect them to their future homes and watch them create new stories and have new lives.”

Eventually, the couple hopes to hire more employees as the store continues to grow.

The pair also said their queer identity is very important to them and their customers — especially in June, which is Pride Month. The city of Las Vegas celebrates Pride Month in October, due to the summer heat.

“We’re happy to have a space for (the) community to come and shop, and feel welcome and feel like their authentic selves,” said Hosseini-Nasab. “We have a lot of people in our queer community, and we’re happy that they can see themselves reflected in our business.”

Avery said shopping at women-owned, minority-owned and queer-owned businesses helps increase representation and make business owners feel supported.

“I think representation really matters,” said Avery. “I think in order for us to be represented, we have to be supported by our community. That’s what really clinches it. We’re able to exist and sustain our business because our community supports us. And that’s huge.”

Review-Journal business intern Emerson Drewes can be reached at edrewes@reviewjournal.com or via Twitter @EmersonDrewes.