White Rabbit Books and Things

Even though I lived in San Francisco for the last 7 years, I was raised in Charlotte and drop by to visit family every now and then. I’m old enough to remember the last three locations they were at before the White Rabbit found it’s current home. They used to be a well stocked «Gay and Lesbian Bookstore» that actually sold books to read, both adult (XXX) and non adult books. I mean ALOT of books, wall to wall books. As well as being a place one could feel comfortable in, they had soft chairs/​sofas you could hang out in while reading a book and drinking tea. Back in the day, around ’96, I discovered one of my favorite authors there, «Mercedes Lackey». I was looking for a sci-​fi/​fantasy non-​XXX book that had gay main characters in it. The staff recommended the «Last Herald Mage» trilogy. I bought all three books and after reading them, I was hooked. I ended up buying more of her books. I love reading. Anyway, they used to also sell and rent VHS and DVD LGBT movies (most of which weren’t porn), as well as the usual stuff you would expect like pride stuff (stickers, flags, dolls, etc), new porn mags, porn books, lube, sex toys, etc… However, all of that is in the past now. Now it seems to be nothing but a glorified «head shop». The store is only a shadow of it’s former self. They currently only sell twink underwear, old porn mags (in the 2 or 3 «mag pack» types), lube, and cheap «head shop» stuff, with some «lgbt pride» stuff sprinkled around the store.
I saw this coming years ago when they closed the White Rabbit in Greensboro (I was so sad to hear it) and then when they closed the one in Raleigh (it was really depressing), but I didn’t want to believe nor accept it. However, when I recently visited the White Rabbit it was like a dagger was thrust in my heart. Their current place looks cheap and run down, doesn’t really feel like a «LGBT safe space», and like I mentioned before, they don’t sell books anymore, just cheap «money makers», so I wouldn’t call them a «LGBT Bookstore». They’re more like a twink underwear shop that happens to sell old porno mags, head shop crap, and a little LGBT pride stuff (mostly stickers and greeting cards) on the side. It’s sad. It really is. I guess the local LGBT community just didn’t support them and now they’re left with this crappy place. This is one of the many reasons why I would never consider moving back to Charlotte, or even North Carolina for that matter. It’s so sad.

Girls not come here” this place is for boys. Their book selection is highly limited. Their greeting cards are all for boys. Overall the place is blah I’m not sure how they stay in business.