LGBTQ+ owned vintage clothing store offers all gender clothes for Sacramento residents

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Amelia Sultana’s new chapter in life began when they moved to Oak Park from Oakland seven years ago.

Sultana was going through a divorce and was looking for the most affordable place and ways to live.

They found their future by thrifting clothes.

While thrift shopping for furniture as they began to settle into their new life in Oak Park, Sultana had an idea — to start thrift pop ups for LGBTQ+ Sacramento residents.

“Sacramento has always sort of been a vintage place,” Sultana said. “So it was just fun thing for me to do to get to know people who had a common interest.”

Later, Sultana’s pop ups would transform into QueerShoppe, a LGBTQ+ vintage store, which opened in November in Oak Park at 3400 Broadway. The store was previously located along Stockton Boulevard.

Sultana is genderqueer, and for years spent their professional career styling professionals and friends. So, they brought together two passions: fashion and helping others explore their gender identity.

The store offers vintage clothes and gender coaching, a service to assist customers in expressing their identity with gender-affirming clothes.

“Transformation, aesthetically, is actually really deep and powerful,” Sultana said. “It’s really so validating for people that I just started leaning into it.”

With previous experience as a personal shopper, Sultana said oftentimes people with gender dysphoria can face difficulties buying and trying on clothes. The National Health Services defines gender dysphoria as “the sense of unease that a may have because of a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity.”

Sultana said they have a decade amount of experience in gender coaching, helping others navigate gender dysphoria that can come up when trying on clothes.

“Every time I would personal shop with someone, they would sort of start crying in the fitting room and be like ‘I’ve never felt safe in the fitting room. I’ve never felt my gender expression this intensely and euphorically before,’ Sultana said. “So there was all this kind of cracking open that just happens from getting slacks and sweaters for work.”

Recently, Sultana said they received a phone call from a mother of a transgender teenager. Confused on how to support their child, the mother asked Sultana if they could bring them to QueerShoppe.

“I said, ‘That’s why we exist,’” Sultana said.

But QueerShoppe is more than just a vintage clothing store, Sultana said. It’s a part of Sacramento’s LGBTQ+ community. It acts as a safe space and a bridge for LGBTQ+ individuals in Sacramento to find resources.

“Sometimes a person will show up and need a thing, and another person turns around in the shop and says ‘I can help you with that,’” Sultana said.

Community support for LGBTQ+, small-owned business

While QueerShoppe has hopeful beginnings to offer a sanctuary for LGBTQ+ Sacramento residents in Oak Park, the business has faced struggles in its past.

But lately, being a small business in Sacramento has been a struggle. LGBTQ+ businesses have little resources to assist them, they said. There’s been increased vendor fees and times have become tough financially, Sultana said. As a result businesses rely on support from each other.

Sultana said it’s become difficult to compete with corporate-owned businesses. She said sometimes consumers will prioritize convenience over quality, adding that purchasing fast fashion gives them a “monetary rush” from getting a package in the mail.

According to USA Today, small businesses are facing hurdles nationwide related to economic barriers.

In 2024, 52% of small businesses said inflation was their biggest challenge. Almost 19 out of 20 businesses said they struggled with business finances in 2022, with over 80% citing increase costs for goods, services and wages as an obstacle.

There’s other barriers with being a LGBTQ+ business as well. As a queer person, Sultana said it’s hard for them to be taken seriously and feel safe. When QueerShoppe was on Stockton Boulevard, Sultana said their flag was torn down and burned during Pride Month.

“There is some risk there. And even just chatting with potential customers out in the world (when they’re looking at vintage clothes) and they ask ‘What’s your business called?’ It’s always still a little scary for me,” Sultana said. “I came out when I was 14, but this is fear I’ve never felt before.”

Even though QueerShoppe has struggled, Sultana is hopeful in its mission to help everyone find clothes that fit their gender expression. It’s the sense of community and coming together that makes the difference, Sultana said.

“It’s the community piece that feels really powerful and important, especially during dark times,” Sultana said.