More than a thrift store: Owners focus on community, sustainability, Indigenous people

A new thrift store has opened in Fort Worth where the owners hope to promote the environmental sustainability of thrifting, build a sense of community and raise awareness about the history of Indigenous people.

The store — Flipstone Vintage and Thrift — is on White Settlement Road near Carroll Street, west of downtown Fort Worth. The road’s name is evidence of a time when white settlers came to the Fort Worth area in a push that displaced and killed many Indigenous people.

The store is owned by Dancing Iglesias, 31, her sister Lily Mekeel, 28, and Iglesias’ husband Jesse. The name of the store is a rebrand from the Iglesiases’ previous business, Flipstone Furnishings. “Flipstone” is a play on the cartoon show “The Flintstones,” originally altered to reflect a furniture flipping business.

Vintage T-shirts, purses, shoes, hats, scarfs, jackets, and jewelry fill the thrift store’s main room, where nothing is over $10.

The Gem room is what separates Flipstone from other thrift stores, the owners say. The room holds various paintings, vintage dish sets, golden lamps shaped as tall plants, Regal doll collections, and books. The store is geared toward non-avid thrifters who are searching for more modern and unique clothing, vintage clothing, furniture, and decor, said Dancing Iglesias.

Their store motto: “Spend less on an item, more on your community.”

“It’s trendy for a lot of people, which I don’t particularly mind, because it’s better for the planet shopping secondhand,” Mekeel said.

Also inside Flipstone Vintage and Thrift is a space for the sisters, who are of Indigenous descent, to advocate for environmental sustainability and raise awareness about Indigenous people, using the name of the road the store is on as an entry point for conversations.

History of White Settlement Road

White Settlement Road was paved in 1956 and gets its name from White Settlement, a suburb west of Fort Worth. At the time White Settlement was established in the 1840s, originally where Westworth Village is now, it was the first white community surrounded by seven Native American villages, inhabited by members of the Comanche, Cherokee, and Seminole tribes, according to the White Settlement Historical Museum. The modern road generally follows the trail from Fort Worth west to the village.

Early settlers named it White Settlement to distinguish it from the land of Indigenous people.

In the summer of 2021, the construction of the new White Settlement Road bridge into downtown prompted Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker and the city council to consider changing the road’s name. After a few years of discussion and public input, the decision to change its name faded.

The sisters say they can use the road and its history to help create conversation and unity and to educate people about the history of the area and the Indigenous people who once called it home.

“I think it does give a big opportunity for people to actually learn the history if they choose to do that,” Iglesias said. “Rather than just be like, ‘Let’s not change the name, but also let’s just ignore the whole situation.’ ”

Iglesias and Mekeel were born in Fort Worth but grew up in Nashoba, Oklahoma. Their mother is of Lakota descent, one of three tribes — along with the Dakota and Western Dakota — of the Great Sioux nation. Their original territories consisted of Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Iowa.

Iglesias and Mekeel grew up in a house with two other siblings. Their mom, who had a hard life growing up, had a soft heart for Indigenous children and adopted four Indigenous siblings.

Their mom took them to powwows, gatherings with dances with other Indigenous nations. Their mother would also make regalia, moccasins, and beadwork.

Thrifting out of necessity

Growing up, the sisters and their siblings thrifted out of necessity, not to impress. Today people thrift as a conscious decision to be sustainable and trendy, Iglesias and Mekeel said.

The sisters’ closets are filled with thrifted clothes, which they see as environmentally friendly.

Both of them moved back to the Dallas-Fort Worth area nearly 10 years ago. In January, the sisters started to have conversations about opening a thrift store. In April they signed a lease and opened their store a month later. Then customers started to tell them about the history of White Settlement Road.

Their upbringing and passion for building up the community is reflected in a program they are developing called The Thrifted Home. The program would tie in small businesses that focus on dying trades such as seamstress restoration, lacquering, and upholstery. It would provide a resource for the community to repair and not discard their secondhand items and keep these small and necessary businesses open, the sisters said.

The sisters hope to scale the idea nationwide to help the environment and small businesses that aid in secondhand living.

“We’re saving hundreds of items from the landfill right now, but I definitely would like to work on a much bigger level, where people who don’t necessarily want to thrift or like thrifting learn to see the value of it,” Iglesias said.