Outwrite to leave Piedmont Avenue storefront
After 15 years, the LGBT bookstore and coffee house will say goodbye to 10th and Piedmont
- Joeff Davis
- Outwrite owner Philip Rafshoon announced in an e-mail this morning that the LGBT bookstore and coffeehouse will be leaving its Piedmont Avenue location.
After 15 years, LGBT bookstore and coffee house Outwrite will say goodbye to 10th and Piedmont, owner and founder Philip Rafshoon announced in an e-mail this morning. But the shop isn’t closing for good says Rafshoon, “We prefer to call it a move.”
Outwrite’s lease will run out in a few months and the steep rent in a highly desirable location combined with the current challenges facing the book industry have forced Rafshoon to reconsider his business plan. A move to a more affordable space will allow Outwrite to continue operating.
“We’re not exactly sure what the last day in the current space is,” says Rafshoon. “But in the hour and a half since we sent out the e-mail, about 20 people have contacted us about potential spaces. We would love to stay in Midtown - it’s the heart of the LGBT community.”
The corner of 10th and Piedmont is widely considered the epicenter of gay culture in Atlanta and the Southeast. Much of that has to do with Outwrite since its relocation there in 1996 (previously it was located in the Midtown Promenade shopping center, which now houses Trader Joe’s). The Midtown neighborhood blossomed around the gay-owned and oriented business over the last decade and a half to grow into the bustling cultural center it is today.