When one bookstore closes, another invariably seems to open up in its place. Since A Brother's Touch shut its doors last June, Minneapolis's gay community has been without a full-service gay and lesbian bookstore.
Things changed the first week of March when Query Booksellers, a new independent catering to the city's gay and lesbian community, opened. The store is in the historic St. Anthony Main neighborhood, halfway between downtown Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota's main campus. Owner Lyle Starkloff is a veteran bookseller, having worked at the now-defunct Baxter's Books, Magers & Quinn Booksellers and Borders Books & Music, all in Minneapolis, as well as at Explorer Books in Aspen, Colo.
Starkloff's bookselling philosophy is that gay and lesbian readers read everything, not just books by gay and lesbian authors. Thus, he told PW, he intends to carry a range of books in his 1,086-sq.-ft. store. "I'm targeting the gay and lesbian community, but I am carrying books that are good books in general, no matter who wrote them or what the target audience is," he said. "Certainly, I'm going to carry books on gay parenting, but I'm moving beyond that. I'm going to have books about gardening, cooking, and pets as well. I'm going to carry children's classics, such as Dr. Seuss, Curious George and The Wizard of Oz, too. There are certain books that everyone reads across the demographics." Query will carry 8,700 titles, in addition to magazines and newspapers.
"This will be a bookstore with a strong literary feel to it," said Starkloff. "It'll have a strong backlist of literature, philosophy and history. We don't want to just focus on current trends, but also on the classics—Whitman, Wilde and Proust. I think there's a need out there to educate the gay community on their forebears and so on."
Starkloff emphasized that he's hoping to attract a range of customers. "My niche is the gay and lesbian population, but also the gay-friendly straight community," Starkloff commented. He intends to participate in Book Sense and in the Talking Volumes regional book club, sponsored by the Loft, Minnesota Public Radio and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
Asked if Query will compete with the struggling Amazon Bookstore Coop, the nearby 34-year-old women's bookstore that has added some gay titles and hosted gay readings in the past year, Starkloff responded, "I'm not looking to compete. I want to add to the mix. Since A Brother's Touch closed, Amazon has been carrying gay authors. But I feel there's a niche there, a need for an additional gay bookstore."
A coffeehouse under separate ownership, Wilde Roast Café (named after Oscar Wilde) will open soon next door to Query. Starkloff said he hopes that the combination of a bookstore and a cafe in the same location will attract readers to both businesses. "We expect that anyone reading the papers or book reviews in Wilde Roast Café will find the book at Query or they can order it if they want to," he told PW. "The synergy between the bookstore and cafe will be a strong draw, we hope."
