The so-called Oka-Grauert principle states that for any Stein space $X$ the holomorphic and the topological classification of complex vector bundles on $X$ coincide. See [H. Grauert, *Analytische Faserungen über holomorph-vollständigen Räumen*, Math. Ann. **135**, 263–273 (1958)]. As a consequence, every locally free sheaf $\mathscr{F}$ defined on a contractible subvariety $X$ of $\mathbb{C}^n$ is free. Of course, if $\mathscr{F}$ is not locally free this is no longer true. For instance, take a closed analytic subvariety $Z \subset X$; then the ideal sheaf $\mathscr{I}_Z \subset \mathscr{O}_X$ is coherent but not locally free.