Bonez 4 Budz on Aurora, Queerness, and Loving Our Four-Legged Friends

Karina Tittjung has been with the Stanley Marketplace since the very beginning. From when it was a foundation under construction to the thriving small business community in Aurora, Colorado it is now, she has felt safe there as a queer woman.

“I haven’t incurred a single business in this building that does not support the LGBTQ community, and not just the community, but me as a business owner,” says Tittjung as we chat at a table inside Stanley. 

She had to wear a hard hat the first time she entered the Stanley Marketplace as it was being built, and when it was complete, she was Catering Manager at Rolling Smoke BBQ for seven years. Now, as of March 8, 2024, she owns an animal enrichment store, Bonez 4 Budz, one of over 50 independent businesses inside Stanley.

After being in Stanley for so many years, Tittjung learned what it takes to run her own store from watching her peers navigate the uncertainty of small-business ownership (she watched many of them survive COVID as well). As the head of her small business, she serves every role. She is the social media manager; she is the orderer; she designs the look inside the store. 

And while she was pouring her heart and soul into her business, learning how to do all these things, her fellow business owners in Stanley supported her through it.

“Opening a business as an LGBTQ woman can be daunting,” Tittjung says. She grew up in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and while she extols her family for always being supportive of her, other people in her hometown weren’t so accepting. She and her wife always had to be cautious of where they were holding hands. They never sat on the same side of the booth when they were going out. And while they always felt accepted after they moved to Aurora, she naturally brought some reticence into the idea of putting herself on display through her business. “Are people going to come because I’m gay? Are they not going to come because I’m gay?” 

But when it comes to Stanley, Tittjung knows that she opened her business in a safe space for everyone regardless of gender, race, religion, or sexual orientation because she has been there from the start. “Community is everything in this building and with me. Without these fellow business owners. Without the landlords. Without my wife, none of this is coming to fruition. All of these people have played an integral part in me truly living my dream.”

Tittjung has dreamed of working with animals her whole life. When she was in Broken Arrow, she volunteered at an animal sanctuary where she worked with lions, tigers, and other exotic animals. Furthermore, throughout her life, she’s owned nine dogs in her 18 years with her wife as well as guinea pigs, cats, and fish.

She’s always been drawn to animals because, from her perspective, humans can learn a lot from them.

“Animals are always their authentic selves. They don’t care that I love a woman, nor do they care who I love or who you love. So if we could probably be a little more like animals, we could probably make the world a little bit better,” Tittjung says.

This reverence for animals is why Bonez 4 Budz is an animal enrichment outlet. The products Tittjung sells aren’t just about providing for an animal’s basic needs. They emphasize mental stimulation and engagement. 

For example, she sells enrichment mats that place dog food strategically around a design so the dog doesn’t just stuff their face in a bowl of food. They have to use their mind to extract food from within the design which requires licking, an act that psychologically calms dogs (hence why they lick humans to show love). 

Through Bonez 4 Budz products, owners can show how much they care about their animals, and their animals always bring that care back to their owners.

“It’s a store for enrichment for animals, but it’s also enrichment for humans,” Tittjung says. “That’s the core of our business. Our passion for animals and our passion for humans.”

On the human side, she loves when customers come in, and she can ask them about their animals. Their faces light up as they talk about their own source of pure joy, and even if someone who doesn’t own an animal is coming in to browse, she ensures they know her store is a safe space.

“We have two stickers in the front of our store. One is a rainbow flag that says ‘Everyone is welcome here.’ The other, that I absolutely love—I is such an integral part of my business even though it’s a sticker—is a safe space sticker. It has two hands holding words that say ‘This is a safe space.’ For every person who sees that, looks at it, or takes a picture, or tells their parents about it and then they come in, that’s me when I was a kid. I’m safe here. I may not be out, but I know for a fact when I go in this place there’s somebody who may be like me, and I’m OK,” Tittjung says.

She recently opened that space for the first pride event at Bonez 4 Budz’: the Pride Pawty. At Pride Pawty, they worked with Aurora Animal Shelter to host pet adoptions, and in that regard, they succeeded. A dog named Blanche was adopted at her store.

Working with animals. Working with humans. Getting dogs adopted. Tittjung is doing what she loves in a space she curated that is safe for everyone.

“I can’t get all the dogs in Colorado adopted. I can’t make every kid feel safe that’s coming out. But if each one of us can do a little part of it, the big picture is endless,” Tittjung says. And at Stanley Marketplace, the picture is bigger than just Bonez 4 Budz. “My experience in the building over seven years is safe. As a lesbian, I am safe when I come to Stanley.”

Photos courtesy of Bonez 4 Budz