New Detail

Renegades provides perfect foil for Bandera cowboys

By Judith Pannebaker

Ask Brenda Gonzalez-Hackbeil how she settled on the name for her new retail store and this is her story – and she’s stickin’ to it: “In Bandera it’s cowboys, cowboys, cowboys. Well, what goes hand-in-hand with cowboys but Indians. With my Native American heritage, I decided to be Bandera’s ‘renegade’.”

The brainchild of Gonzalez and her business partner, Anita Dunneberg, Renegades is located at the corner of 11th and Cedar streets. The “hippest store in town” will open officially on Memorial Day weekend with sidewalk sales and refreshments served on Renegades Back Porch.

Gonzalez and Dunneberg’s intriguing amalgamation of personal styles make for an exciting and eclectic shopping experience. “She’s bling everything, so I’ll do Navajo silver and turquoise,” Gonzalez quipped.

She’s perhaps most proud of her extensive assemblage of high-end old pawn Native American jewelry.

For the uninitiated, old pawn or dead pawn describes pawned items that have not been redeemed by the borrower. The term is usually applied to handmade Native American jewelry that has been pawned – some still retaining their original tickets. Historically, the term old pawn connotes exceptional quality.
Serious collectors of Native American items seek out authentic old pawn because of its excellent craftsmanship. Many Native Americans used the trader’s pawnshop as a sort of bank – pawning truly wonderful items and redeeming them only for special occasions.

“I have a second home near Taos, New Mexico, and get my ‘stuff’ on the reservation, where everyone knows me,” Gonzalez explained. Additionally, she turns over a percentage of the profits from Renegades to the Indian Relief Fund and Indian College Fund – in part to honor her heritage. Gonzalez’s mother is three-quarters Native American and her father is Chinese.
Not a novice to retailing, Gonzalez elected to close her former shop in Sabinal in 2005 because “I couldn’t do it and be a fulltime peace officer.”

She recently retired after 27 years as a criminal investigator – most recently as chief investigator with the 38th Judicial District, which encompasses Medina, Real and Uvalde counties.

Finding old habits are hard to break, however, Gonzalez quickly pointed out, “I’m still a commissioned peace officer.”

On the other end of the spectrum, during her “day job,” Dunneberg serves as operations manager for a San Antonio insurance agency.

“I moved to Bandera from Boerne with my ‘thundering herd of horses’ in 2005,” Dunneberg said. “I just love this area and Boerne really wasn’t for me.”

She began consigning “bling” items to the now defunct Sassafrazz Western Décor. However, once the shop closed, she was at a loss until meeting Gonzalez. The two hit it off and the result was Renegades.

Dunneberg contributes the “bling” to the business. “Just call me the ‘bling specialist’,” she said. “If it’s got bling on it, I can find it.” Dunneberg ferrets out a lot of her unique merchandise at the Cowboy Christmas and Country Christmas held at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Nevada.

She also creates jewelry and clothing covered with rhinestones and crystals. “I call them styles for the younger and ‘younger-feeling woman,” Dunneberg quipped. “I’m 48 and still feel young. You have to keep trying your best.”

Renegades has been open for about two weeks and both women have been excited about the response so far.

“I always tell people, ‘Come inside and look. You don’t have to buy’,” Gonzalez said. “We carry everything. We even have wristbands and fedora hats for the skateboarding crowd. It’s filled with stuff you need. We’re going to be the hippest store in town.”

With a promise of “eclectic shopping at its best,” Renegades will be open from 10:30 am to 5:30 pm, Friday through Sunday, but on special event weekends, Gonzalez and Dunneberg promise to stay open until the last shopper “drops.” Telephone is 830-796-9998.