By Amber Hair Monday, June 9th, 2025

The decision to be visibly out as a business owner is a personal one, often influenced by culture, personal history and questions of safety.

Along the Central Coast, several out business owners have reported an overwhelming amount of support from their communities — but also the occasional bout of harassment.

John Newberry, the owner of Newberry’s Candy in Thousand Oaks, describes himself as ‘aggressively out’, which to him means being himself in such a way that it doesn’t allow for rude comments in his vicinity.

“You’ve got to be out,” Newberry said. “You’ve got to be aware.”

Pride flags hang outside the shop, directly under the sign, and Newberry made a placard inspired by the late Fred Rogers, proclaiming that the store likes people ‘just the way you are’. Additionally, Newberry’s Candy features several Pride-themed treats during the summer, including chocolate-dipped Oreos featuring rainbow decorations and rainbow-sprinkled caramel apples.

For the most part, Newberry said, the flags have encouraged people to feel safe in the store, and the community has embraced his store, which has been open for more than eight years.

There have been a couple of incidents over the years, though, including during Pride Month last year, when a customer he described as a ‘regular’ made threats against the shop when Newberry wasn’t there.

A post-Newberry made on the shop’s Facebook account received almost two hundred reactions and more than two dozen comments, all supportive.

Up in Santa Barbara, Andrew Rawls, the owner of The Crafter’s Library, has had a similar experience — incredible community support mixed with a couple of moments that made him pause. The Crafter’s Library, a maker’s coworking space in downtown Santa Barbara, hosts several Pride-themed events throughout the month of June, but it also carries similar items throughout the year and features classes and events from several queer artists.

“It’s sort of like a self-selecting clientele,” Rawls said. “People who have an issue with it just don’t come in.”

The Crafter’s Library opened in May 2021, and they have had some issues throughout the years. In February 2023, there was a protest against a Drag Queen Story Time event in the store, and roughly a dozen people came out to make their displeasure known.

In response, Rawls said, many more people showed up to counter-protest. Rawls let law enforcement know about the two groups, to be safe, but said that both groups were peaceful and that the story time went on peacefully.

“Our community came out to protect the kids,” Rawls said. “We were totally safe.”

Another time, two Neo-Nazis passed out literature across the street from the store. That’s not something any store owner wants, but that is where it ended.

Being out also exists on a spectrum. Jenny Kompolt and Melissa James, who co-own The Junk Girls, a home décor and art retail store in San Luis Obispo, have been in business together for 15 years, and they’ve never had an issue, but they also don’t make it a big part of how they show up in the community.

“Melissa and I are out, but it’s not all our brand is,” Kompolt said.

If anything, Kompolt thinks there’s been more support recently.

“I think people think of us as a very safe place,” Kompolt said. “We feel very loved and appreciated.”

One aspect all of the business owners agreed on was that the communities around them play a big role in how safe and supported they feel and that even extends to Christine Brown, the owner of Kind Cup. Kind Cup doesn’t have a physical store location, but Brown is based in Carpinteria, and said the Central Coast is somewhat insulated from the larger global atmosphere.

Kind Cup is a menstrual cup company, and Brown focuses on being inclusive of all peoples’ experiences in a space that has been ‘incredibly gendered’. Brown pointed out that the queer community has lived through chaotic times in the past and got through it by keeping focused and staying true to itself.

“Bit by bit, we can have a little more humanity towards each other,” Brown said.

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