Bend-founded app maps locations of queer businesses

Published 6:00 am Wednesday, February 7, 2024

What started out as a spark of an idea — create an online community for like-minded businesses — has grown from a handful to a hundreds in just 18 months.

It all began when Charlie Sprinkman wanted to build a community for consumers who wanted to support the LGBTQ+ community of business owners.

Among the 8,900 LGBTQ+ businesses listed on a map on his Everywhere is Queer website are about 80 Bend businesses. They’re businesses and services nationwide and in Central Oregon vetted by Sprinkman. It’s kind of a chamber, or business group that agree to be on a list to support customers and each other, said Sprinkman.

“The reason I started this is to allow queer people to feel safe locally in their community or globally as they travel through the world,” said Sprinkman, 27. “I wanted to support queer entrepreneurs in their projects.”

The creation process

Sprinkman first created a simple logo, then posted it on social media, where it quickly caught on. That lead to a website and then the map. Now, there will be an app that includes the map that will be ready for download on Feb. 20, he said. It’s all showing businesses from doggie bakeries to plant stores to financial advisers.

An entrepreneur, Sprinkman has hired three programmers to develop the app that will take the map from the website and make it accessible to other businesses and user friendly.

Once the app is launched, business owners will be charged about $50 a month to have a premium listing in the app, Sprinkman said.

“I wanted to create a community for myself,” said Spinkman, 27. “I love to do things on my own. Having 80 queer-owned businesses on the map from Bend is incredible. Not all the businesses are brick and mortar. Some are virtual.”

The app enables people to easily download the map and still receive Sprinkman’s personal touch. He contacts each of the businesses or services that want to be listed before approving them. Business owners consent to be listed on the map, Sprinkman said. Their participation is voluntary, he said.

“There will always be sad people in the world, which is sad,” Sprinkman said, referring to businesses’ security concerns. “Once the app is launched, users will have to create a profile. This is to create a barrier for sad people to enter.”

Business owners get real time information on who is clicking on the locator on the map, so they can see if it’s an effective advertising tool.

Businesses are not charged to be on the map and the app will be free on IOS and Android format, Sprinkman said. Businesses that want to be listed on the map or the upcoming app can send an application request to Sprinkman, who combs through the business’s website and social media.

Teh Sanchez, a co-owner of Turtle Island Coffee, on Wall and Oregon streets in Bend, is among those businesses listed on the app and the website map. It was important to Sanchez that the coffee shop be listed.

“It’s a great resource for people in our community,” Sanchez said. “It’s important to know where you’re safe. The map is great for when you’re traveling to new places. You want to know where to go.”

Sanchez said customers find solace in the fact that the coffee shop is the only queer congregating business in town.

“This is a place where they will be accepted,” Sanchez said. “Our community doesn’t fit in the binary of society. They want to go to place where they can feel comfortable.”

For John Kish, co-owner of Somewhere that’s Green in Bend, being listed has expanded his business beyond his vision. Kish said he has seen proof of the reach of the map when he’s seen on social media a photo of someone from Nebraska wearing his company’s logo wear. Kish said he was among the first to apply for inclusion in the map when Sprinkman started in 2022.

Business owners who are Black, indigenous, people of color or female-owned, also have found a home on the map. One side benefit is business owners can see other business models, said Kish.

“It’s turned into something so much more than just free branding,” Kish said. “The map allows you to travel and wherever you go you’ll be able to find a like-minded business. It’s been phenomenal for us. It amplifies the marginalized businesses and people feel safe and represented.

“Some customers are inspired by my shop and take the business model to their own spaces.”

Kish said he thinks of the map as a smaller, more personal version of a chamber of commerce.

“Some people are worried for their safety because you’re standing out more,” Kish said. “But if you are a business owner, you’re already standing out.”

Another perspective

Trevor Campbell-Schmillen, owner of CS Solutions, also can be found on the Everywhere is Queer map. New clients have sought out his Bend company because of his listing. The map enables him to market to a specific community and make connections with other business owners, Campbell-Schmillen said.

“I got to meet other cool business owners. That’s a beautiful silver lining,” Campbell-Schmillen said. “It’s about connecting with people in a different way.”

Sprinkman said the map will enable LGBTQ+ community members to support each other whether customer or business.

“There’s a lot of homophobia experiences in the heteronormative space,” Sprinkman said. “It’s ingrained in our society and culture. When queer businesses are more supported, they’re more respected and successful. The queer community have a greater voice, more political might.

“This allows them to be seen as their authentic selves.”