Member Q&A with Kirt and the Crew from The Little Gay Shop
The Little Gay Shop started as a pop-up. Co-owners, Kirt Reynolds and Justin Galicz, decided to open the store after moving to Austin from New York City. "When I got here, I was surprised at the lack of queer art and representation," said Kirt. The brick and mortar location on Airport Blvd was founded in 2019 and started welcoming customers in July 2020. Maybe not the best timing since it was right at the beginning of the pandemic. But now, the queer art, books, and merch one-stop shop, exclusively created and designed by members of the LGBTQIA+ community, is thriving.
The Little Gay Shop co-owners, Justin and Kirt, launched the business to create a space outside the nightlife scene where everyone could feel represented, seen, and accepted.
Createscape: Tell readers about The Little Gay Shop. When did you open?
Kirt: The Little Gay Shop is an online and IRL queer marketplace based in Austin, Texas. We sell magazines, books, art, apparel, and other goods created exclusively by queer-identifying artists and makers from around the world.
My husband Justin and I started it as a pop-up shop in 2018 and later we opened the store at 828 Airport Blvd. We launched the business because we wanted to create a space outside of the nightlife scene where everyone could feel represented, seen, and accepted.
We curate a large selection of independent, locally sourced, and international products, some of which are only available at our shop.
The co-owners curate a large selection of independent, locally sourced, and international products, some of which are only available at their shop.
You feature a lot of Austin artists at your shop. Do you also feature artists from other cities? Is that something you scope out or do artists find you?
We have a mix of local, national, and international artists we source from! We love working with and promoting our Austin maker community, since it’s imperative to invest in your local community in order to make change and progress. When we started, we would reach out to artists, but more often they reach out to us now, or we get suggestions from customers.
Do you plan to open more stores, either here in Austin or in other locations?
We have plans to expand and are exploring our options. There is a huge need for a shop and space like this in so many cities and states, so we are open to any possibilities. Right now we are exploring a temporary pop-up in New York City for the holiday season, are expanding our wholesale footprint, and looking at ways we can partner with other local brands and businesses to expand our mission.
There are three of you on the team that works at Createscape. Where is everyone from?
In addition to myself, our team members that work at Createscape are Kylle Trail, retail operations manager, and Nova Strub-Meis, community outreach manager. I’m originally from Fayetteville, Arkansas, but lived in New York City the past 11 years. Kylle is from Milwaukee and Nova is originally from Houston.
“We love working with and promoting our Austin maker community, since it’s imperative to invest in your local community in order to make change and progress”
-Kirt
“In our experience, one of the best ways to enact change and progress is by activating on the local and community level”
-Justin
You recently returned to NYC to represent your shop at the Gay Pride Parade. Do you go every year?
This was the very first year The Little Gay Shop went to NYC to participate in the Pride event. When Justin and I lived there, before the shop opened, we participated in the event every year. But this year, we were excited to go back to share our story and also prove that not everyone from Texas is bad, hahaha. We plan to continue participating yearly, and attending other city pride events as well.
What did you do for the Gay Pride Parade in Austin?
For Austin Pride, we had a tent at the parade. We've also been hosting a few events during the month too, which can be found on our website here.
I feel like the upcoming year is going to be very high stakes here in Texas. Certain leaders seem intent on revoking rights from the gay community, just like they did with women's rights. That’s as political as I’ll get — unless it’s something you want to get into.
We never shy away from our politics and beliefs. Being visibly, proudly queer is one of the most political and radical things a person can do, so we never take that for granted. Many leaders in this state and country know their power is dwindling and will do anything to silence us, fracture us, and make us feel powerless, but our community will never let that happen.
In our experience, one of the best ways to enact change and progress is by activating on the local and community level. Queer history is founded on this idea, which is part of the reason the shop has been so successful.
After discovering that Createscape was queer-owned, Kirt & Justin immediately decided to join the space.
Being both surrounded by like-minded creatives and having a space that inspires creativity is equally important to them.
How did you find Createscape?
We found Createscape through a simple web search. Once we found out it was queer-owned, it cemented that decision to get our space. If you visit our shop, you’ll see we have maximized all 300 square feet, so we really needed a space close-by where we could peacefully get work done. The studio and community here have been added bonuses.
What were you looking for in an office environment?
Honestly, we want to be surrounded by like-minded groups of people. We are all creatives, so working in a space that inspires creatives is really important as well.
Visit The Little Gay Shop, located at 828 Airport Blvd. They’re open 7 days a week, 11am-7pm Monday through Friday, 10am-7pm on Saturday, and 10am-5pm on Sunday.