Stewie sells “wherever gays gather"
by Elisabeth Slay
Staff Writer
Almost every day Stewart Wallace loads up his “Pride mobile” with various LGBTQ+ merchandise, travels to the next event and helps people show how they “got Pride.”
“In the same way, Harvey Milk stood up and said, ‘I'm Harvey Milk, I'm from Woodmere, New York, and I'm gay,’” Wallace explained. “I think of many of the items I sell as being small ways for my customers to come out to the world each day, letting their fellow townsfolk know there are good gay people around them, wherever they live.”
Wallace owns and operates Stewie’s Got Pride, which according to him, is a traveling shop selling all LGBTQ+ items.
From flags to ties to beanies, Wallace provides items to people to help them celebrate their identity.
“I always joke that our mantra is ‘Stewie's Got Pride: Wherever Gays Gather.’ We primarily do pride festivals, but we also sell at a few conferences and conventions during the winter,” Wallace said.
Initially, Wallace began working with a nonprofit and came up with the idea for a traveling store.
“One day, I innocently said, ‘What if we took the store out to a festival.’ We did, and the response was enough that the traveling sales unit kind of became a beast which must be fed,” Wallace explained.
However, he eventually ended his relationship with the nonprofit and started Stewie’s Got Pride.
“Friends who understood the emotional charge I got from bringing folks items that affirm who they are suggested that I try doing it on a commercial basis. Luckily, it has worked out,” Wallace said.
For Wallace, the best aspect of his business is seeing the reactions of customers when they find a flag or pin.
“People are very appreciative of the items we bring to them, particularly the items for the various subgroups under the LGBTQ+ umbrella,” he explained. “I am often thanked profusely for simply doing what I do, by folks who have just given me their money.
“I'll never forget a teenager several years back, who was so excited to see that we had pansexual flags for sale that she began to cry. ‘I never thought I'd ever see one,’ she said. Not 'I didn't think I'd see one here today,' but ‘I never thought I'd ever see one.’ She got to take one home with her that day and put it on her wall.”
Wallace sets up shop at around 35 to 40 events a year and has sold all over the country.
“At this point, we have done events in 31 states and the District of Columbia, and the loaded-down pride mobile (the nickname for my intrepid Honda Fit) has traveled through an additional nine states,” he explained.
Recently, Stewie’s Got Pride sold its merchandise at the American Atheists Convention and are prepping for their first rodeo, the IGRA World Gay Rodeo Finals in Mesquite, Texas.
Sometimes Wallace will take the Pride mobile to non-LGBTQ+ events as well.
“We occasionally do a crossover event, since we carry enough feminist, resistance, BLM and Latinx merchandise to interest groups outside the strictly LGBTQ+ community,” Wallace said.
For more information on Stewie’s Got Pride visit www.stewiesgotpride.com.
Copyright The Gayly – December 19, 2018 @ 7:20 a.m. CST.