New GLBT Bookstore Fills Void in the Twin Cities

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While the Ides of March didn't turn out so great for Julius Caesar, this past March 15 did augur well for seasoned bookseller Lyle Starkloff, who opened Query Booksellers, a new gay and lesbian bookstore in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Starkloff has already seen considerable increase in traffic and business from the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered (GLBT) community in the Twin Cities, as well as from the straight-but-not-narrow contingent, particularly since Query carries many categories outside gay and lesbian literature. The new store is filling the void left when A Brother's Touch closed in May 2003.

Starkloff took his first job in bookselling in 1987 at Explore Booksellers & Bistro in Aspen, Colorado. "I went into [Explore] thinking it would be part-time or temporary," he explained. "Once I was working there, the owner Katharine Thalberg was such an exemplary bookseller -- she was so passionate about books and bookselling, she won me over. I haven't wanted to do anything else since."

After Explore, Starkloff worked in a number of bookstores in the Twin Cities including Baxter's Books and Magers & Quinn. He knew he wanted to open a bookstore. Whether it would be a GLBT bookstore, he hadn't decided until more recently. He was motivated, in part, to accelerate his plans by the closing of A Brother's Touch. When it closed, "Amazon Cooperative picked up the ball by adding gay male novels and books to their inventory," said Starkloff, who was quick to add that Query "would not pre-empt Amazon [Bookstore Cooperative]. There's still room for another bookstore in town for the gay community. We're a nice complement to Amazon and Rainbow Road, a [gay and lesbian] gift store."

The interior of the new Query Booksellers in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Query, a small (a little over 1,000 square feet), white stucco store with a brick facade, carries 3,650 titles of mostly new and some used fiction. In addition to stocking gay and lesbian literature, they sell "everything you'd find in a general bookstore," said Starkloff, including books on cooking, interior design, children's literature, travel, and pets. "The gay community reads everything, so why should a gay and lesbian bookstore limit itself to gay and lesbian [literature]," he noted. "Gays and lesbians travel, have pets, garden, have homes to repair and decorate."

Addressing another point about why diversification pays off Starkloff explained, "Many people are interested in history and politics, so why not have the books where people can get them all in one place? Why not have the books at a bookstore that's gay owned and operated and supports the community directly?"

Before finding the location for Query -- a name that's won Starkloff some kudos -- he had hoped to open next to a cafe to capitalize on that natural symbiosis of books and coffee. A business associate knew of two business partners looking to open a cafe next to a bookstore. It so happened the new cafe was Wilde Roast Cafe, which would be gay owned and operated. As the old Yiddishism goes, it was beshert, meant to be.

The prospective owners hunted for a site together and found two stores side by side in the St. Anthony Main section of Minneapolis, a hip, lively neighborhood across the Mississippi from downtown Minneapolis, and near the University of Minnesota. They opened within days of each other and a doorway was created between the two stores. They now hold a joint book discussion once a month.

Meanwhile, the neighborhood welcomed the new bookstore. Response has been "very positive," said Starkloff. "People are saying they've felt a need for this kind of bookstore since A Brother's Touch closed.... We get a lot of straight customers from the cafe. People who aren't part of the gay community are quite comfortable shopping here for children's books or other books that [appeal] to everyone." Starkloff said he was a bit surprised with the smooth entree into the area. "I was apprehensive that there would be some opposition. There hasn't been any. There's been an acceptance."

The question of whether there is still a need for a gay and lesbian bookstore is something that Starkloff said is sometimes posed, especially after such mainstream success of TV programs like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Will and Grace, and Michael Cunningham's novel and the film, The Hours. Starkloff, however, cautioned, "Even with all of the surface mainstream acceptance, the marriage issue has brought up that there is still a lot of intolerance directed toward the gay and lesbian community. Combine that with the undertone of the current administration and it underscores the fact that there is still a need for gay and lesbian bookstores." He added, "It's like the saying on a Don't Panic T-shirt -- 'Don't assume your freedoms are assured.'" --Karen Schechner