Insider's Guide
They are pioneers, innovators and big dreamers — exactly the trifecta that tends to lead to success for downtown businesses and business leaders.
For the winners of this year’s annual awards from Downtown Sioux Falls Inc., doing business downtown is about something bigger than their own individual endeavor — it’s about contributing to a broader community.
“It’s always hard to narrow down which businesses and individuals to honor, but this year’s group especially captures the spirit of what has made downtown successful,” said Brandon Hanson, CEO of Downtown Sioux Falls Inc.
“It’s a group that also doesn’t sit still long. Even weeks after we honored them, many already are moving on to grow their presence downtown even further.”
We caught up with several of the winners for a closer look at their commitment to downtown and what’s ahead for their businesses.
Retailer of the Year
When Mel Guse returned to her native Sioux Falls after living in the Twin Cities, she had a vision for bringing something new to the downtown retail scene.
Located at 108 W. 11th St., Gist Wine Shop has matured into what Guse imagined: a way to share her passion for wine while creating a community within the community.
“That’s what we’ve created,” Guse said. “It’s people exploring new wines and tasting new things and maybe stepping outside what they have known. And once they’ve seen that, they keep coming back to see what else we’ve got.”
At Gist Wine Shop, customers will find a curated selection of lesser-known producers and varietals.
“I think there is a wine for everybody, and we have some unique, different selections,” Guse said. “It’s just a welcoming place. I find people make friends as they come in and meet other people. Wine can be a little scary or unknown at first, and this is just a comfortable place — like coming into my second kitchen and having a glass of wine.”
She also brings an expert eye to the experience, learning from a James Beard Award-winning chef in California, achieving the highest-level international sommelier certification, working with a Michelin-starred chef at a specialty grocery and opening a nationally recognized fermentation bar with her sister in the Twin Cities.
As the DTSF Retailer of the Year, Gist Wine Shop now has two things to celebrate: the downtown honor and its recent five-year anniversary.
“It was such an honor to be recognized for hard work and doing what you love and knowing people really appreciate what you’re doing,” Guse said.
Try out Gist Wine Shop from noon to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday.
In addition to beverages, guests can snack on charcuterie boxes from local business Cultivated in Love along with retail meats, cheeses, chips, crackers and nuts.
Upcoming events include monthly wine classes; Civics Uncorked, an event featuring local leaders and issues, which is offered next on June 30; and a Bastille Day celebration on July 14 featuring French wine and a little language lesson.
“Wine and creativity go together,” Guse said. “We’ve done art classes. There are all kinds of things we can do.”
Food & Beverage of the Year
When Beau Vondra learned his Totally Rad Eats concept at Fernson Brewing Co. had been named Downtown Sioux Falls Inc.’s Food & Beverage Business of the Year, his first reaction was disbelief.
“I heard we’d won an award and just laughed. Like, for what — best French fries?” he said. “But I realized it was for real, and I was honored and happy the effort our team put into that space was noticed. It was really cool for the team to experience that and see their hard work pay off.”
Vondra opened Totally Rad Eats inside Fernson’s downtown taproom in 2025, bringing a chef-driven menu built around scratch cooking, thoughtful sourcing and a sense of fun. Since then, the concept has developed a loyal following for everything from burgers and sandwiches to creative brunch offerings and special dining events.
“I think it’s been a combination of a lot of things we’ve been doing,” Vondra said. “We get great feedback when people finally get to the Eats concept because people still don’t even know it’s there sometimes.”
The addition of brunch last fall helped introduce the concept to new customers, he said, while collaborative dinners with fellow chefs also have attracted attention.
“Those dinners have been really special and fun nights, not only for me but for the guests who get to experience them,” Vondra said.
Now, he’s adding another concept to downtown with the recent opening of Totally Rad Pizza, located just blocks away from Fernson. The restaurant builds on the same philosophy that has guided his work at Totally Rad Eats.
“We take what we do very seriously, but we don’t take ourselves very seriously,” Vondra said. “That’s the concept.”
Behind the playful branding is a commitment to quality ingredients and careful preparation.
“We do our own butchering and baking, and we thoughtfully source products from makers we care about,” he said. “From the pepperoni to the prosciutto to the flour, everything has meaning and purpose. But I also make a wing sauce with Kool-Aid because food is meant to be fun.”
Vondra’s history downtown goes back more than a decade to his days as a restaurant owner in the area.
“I didn’t think I’d ever want to open something downtown again,” he said. “But being with the Fernson team and next door to Michael Haskett, who I grew up with and connect with multiple times a week, it’s been fun. There are great residents who make us a destination, and it’s like a whole new group of regulars who are actually old friends for me.”
He also credits the continued momentum downtown for helping businesses like his succeed.
“DTSF has really made downtown a focal point, and it’s become a really cool spot to be,” Vondra said. “I bring in friends who are chefs from across the country and show them what a cool oasis in the middle of the country this is.”
New Business of the Year
Expanding to downtown isn’t always an automatic “yes” in business.
“I admit we said no four or five times before we finally started to capture the vision of what a Pomegranate Market could look like downtown,” said Jonah Snyder, co-owner of Pomegranate Market.
His family-owned grocery store opened its second Sioux Falls location last year at Cherapa Place.
“We’re lifelong residents of Sioux Falls and have been richly blessed by the many people and businesses who revitalized downtown over the last 20 years,” Snyder said.
“We could see the rapid growth and the need for more grocery options as the residential community downtown has exploded. We want to be bricklayers in helping build the type of community we want to live in, and we felt like opening a Pomegranate Market location downtown was an investment in the future of a community we love.”
At the downtown store, hundreds of shoppers have come to check out the new location and have shared generous praise, he added.
“The Cherapa campus has really embraced us, but we know there’s still a lot of work ahead to earn our place as the downtown community’s grocery store of choice,” Snyder said.
“We have a team of clerks, cooks, department managers and store leadership working hard every day to innovate and create a shopping experience that resonates with the community.”
There’s always something new in the store, from more than 70 local vendors to rotating daily and weekly offerings. Pomegranate Market also recently added online grocery ordering, geared to the busy downtown resident or professional who doesn’t always have time to browse.
“They can either pick their items up at the register or have them delivered,” Snyder said. “It’s something guests have asked for, and we’re excited to launch it.”
Pomegranate Market also readily welcomes guest feedback and recently put out a call to shoppers interested in joining a Pomegranate Community Council.
“We cannot succeed with a passionate group of supporters and advocates, so we thought it made a lot of sense to invite some of our most loyal shoppers to to the table and have a voice in the business we’re building,” Snyder said.
To apply, contact the business through its Facebook page.
Stop by this Friday and enjoy the monthly farmers market hosted at Pomegranate Market from 4 to 7 p.m., plus check out new summer features at the Groove Wellness Bar. And don’t miss the new Sioux Falls Bike Prom from 5 to 7 p.m. June 27.
“It is sure to be a very fun event for anyone looking for an excuse to round up a date, a few friends or family members for a prom-themed bike ride complete with prom photos, a barbecue, music and games at the end,” Snyder said.
Being honored by DTSF as New Business of the Year was a welcome surprise and a full-circle moment, he added. A few years ago, the family announced it was expanding downtown at the annual meeting.
“We owe all the credit to a lot of very dedicated team members who poured so much into opening our downtown location,” Snyder said. “The DTSF team also has been a huge support and advocate for us going back to before our opening. We’re proud supporters of the work they do to make downtown Sioux Falls the thriving economic center of our city.”
Professional Service of the Year
Brienne Maner also knows something about a full-circle experience. The president of Startup Sioux Falls, her career in Sioux Falls included serving on the leadership team of DTSF for many years.
This year, the organization she leads was named Professional Service of the Year.
“It felt vindicating, three years after our move downtown, and for me personally, it meant a lot because of the work I had done with DTSF,” she said. “To know this organization recognized the work so many people did to build up this concept downtown really meant the world.”
Since moving downtown in early 2023, Startup Sioux Falls has seen nothing but upside.
“We’re more visible, we’re more accessible, and we’re in a location where development all started to come online as we moved in,” Maner said. “It was the absolutely perfect time for our ecosystem organization to evolve into the heart of our city.”
Remote workers began walking into the space looking for a place to find community.
Small-business owners were intrigued enough to learn more about what was offered there to help scale their businesses or support them as founders.
Special events and networking opportunities drew business community members of all ages and career stages.
“You can immediately walk in and plug in here,” Maner said. “All our programs have helped us stand apart as a small-business startup ecosystem organization.”
Being downtown has been the difference-maker, she said.
“It’s difficult to build community on the fringe of a city. The action is downtown. We’re in the heart of it all, alongside banks, law firms and Main Street businesses we want to serve. There’s nowhere else we could possibly be thriving like this other than downtown. I don’t know what we would be, honestly, had we not moved here. It’s helped make us who we are today.”
