http://www.queerty.com/the-last-chapter-a-look-at-lgbt-bookstores-around-the-world-20120106/

Because of iTunes/iBooks and Amazon/Kindle, the LGBT bookstore is about to be extinct. I always enjoyed going to these bookstores and they are leaving us quickly. The one on Santa Monica Boulevard next to Micky's closed last year and they are going fast. Sad really.

Unabridged on North Broadway in Chicago has been around for over thirty years.

This is a sore point for me, too. Giovanni's Room in Philly has been around since the 70s, and has functioned as a gathering place as well as a bookstore for many years. When I was teaching a gay lit course many years ago, it was the only place I could find the texts I needed. Now I could probably just as easily buy them online, and I suspect that GR hangs on only because of the commitment of the owners. One used to blame the big chain bookstores, but now I miss Borders as well, and fear that one day in the not too distant future there will be nothing but Amazon, which probably won't carry the range of gay soft core porn, cards and gay-themed objects that one can still find at GR along with the serious lit.

I almost died when St Elmo's Books in Pittsburgh closed...

http://www.queerty.com/the-last-chapter-a-look-at-lgbt-bookstores-around-the-world-20120106/

Because of iTunes/iBooks and Amazon/Kindle, the LGBT bookstore is about to be extinct. I always enjoyed going to these bookstores and they are leaving us quickly. The one on Santa Monica Boulevard next to Micky's closed last year and they are going fast. Sad really.

I believe it was called A Different Light.

Its sad to see bookstores fall just as it was to watch the demise of the record store and video / DVD rental shops. The Internet seems to be killing off entertainment based retailers.

I wonder what might be next, pharmacies?

This is a sore point for me, too. Giovanni's Room in Philly has been around since the 70s, and has functioned as a gathering place as well as a bookstore for many years. When I was teaching a gay lit course many years ago, it was the only place I could find the texts I needed. Now I could probably just as easily buy them online, and I suspect that GR hangs on only because of the commitment of the owners. One used to blame the big chain bookstores, but now I miss Borders as well, and fear that one day in the not too distant future there will be nothing but Amazon, which probably won't carry the range of gay soft core porn, cards and gay-themed objects that one can still find at GR along with the serious lit.

When the Nook, Kindle and iPad were quietly weaving themselves into the fabric of our lives, you could download a digital book of your choice for about $9.00-$10.00 cheaper than the bound version. Now that these devices have become wildly popular and more convenient, you'll find in many cases the digital version of your selected book costing equal to, and in some instances even more than the bound version.

When I was coming out in the mid to late 70's, I always found my two local neighborhood bookstores places which not only introduced me to the world of literature, knowledge and information, but also as being a safe and non-judgmental environment to feel safe in, wonder around in and suddenly say to myself, Oh my, look at the time..

They contained within their walls and shelves everything which was right, and sometimes too, everything which was wrong with our world. But it was always about learning and becoming more whole and connected as a person to the world.

I too, will miss those quaint and wonderful places and moments in time.

I met my first boyfriend in one of these wonderful places. He was browsing the spirituality section, while I was in a full burqa seeking out the hard to find at that time, Bob Damron's gay travel guide. :-)