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Philly AIDS Thrift at Giovanni's Room
	Giovanni's Room in February 2014
Company type	Bookstore
Founded	1973
Founder	Bern Boyle; Dan Sherbo; Tom Wilson Weinberg
Headquarters	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
	Historic Bookstore
Pennsylvania Historical Marker
Location	345 S. 12th Street; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107
Coordinates	39°56′42″N 75°09′41″W / 39.94501°N 75.16128°W
PHMC dedicated	October 15, 2011
Website	www.queerbooks.com

Philly AIDS Thrift at Giovanni's Room, also known as PAT @ Giovanni's Room and formerly known as Giovanni's Room Bookstore,^[1]^[2]^[3] is a gay bookstore in Philadelphia. It has been called the "center of gay Philly".^[4] Founded in 1973 in Philadelphia, Giovanni's Room Bookstore was named after James Baldwin's gay novel Giovanni's Room.

Philly AIDS Thrift, a 501c3 non-profit thrift store founded in 2005,^[5] took ownership of the store after former owner Ed Hermance retired in 2014, thus leading to the store being known now as Philly AIDS Thrift at Giovanni's Room, also known as PAT @ Giovanni's Room.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Location

Giovanni's Room Bookstore was located on the corner of 12th and Pine Street in Philadelphia's Gayborhood. The main building was built in 1820, and the second building, which became part of the store several years after the store opened, was built in the 1880s. The store was originally located on South Street and changed locations often in its first few years. It relocated to 345 South 12th Street in 1979.^[6]

Description

During its initial establishment, Giovanni's Room only had approximately 100 titles, which included works from notable queer authors such as James Baldwin, Gertrude Stein, and Willa Cather.^[7] A couple years later, the store would grow to over 15,000 titles dedicated towards not only gay men and women, but also feminist, transgender, and bisexual topics.^[8] Book categories include gay men and women biographies, nonfiction tell-alls, sex-safe books, and muscle magazines.^[9]

Since becoming Philly AIDS Thrift at Giovanni's Room, the owners would then continue the legacy of the bookstore, while also sustaining their former business. Philly AIDS Thrift expanded their collection to include music, artwork, comics, clothing and much more. For their collection of books, Philly AIDS Thrift has 7,000 titles on shelves and a database of 48,000 works that are sold internationally, which contains queer books new and used alike.^[10] Former owner Ed Hermance stated, "In one year, we sold books to 88 bookstores in 17 countries," which include countries in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.^[11]

History

In August 1973, three Gay Activist Alliance (GAA) members, Tom Wilson Weinberg, Dan Sherbo and Bern Boyle, opened Giovanni's Room at 232 South Street.^[6]^[7] At the time, Giovanni's Room was the second LGBTQ books store in the country.^[12] The store was closed shortly afterward due to a homophobic landlord.

The store changed hands to lesbian activist and artist Pat Hill in September 1975. During Hill's time as owner of Giovanni's Room, she expanded what the store had to offer for lesbian and feminist works recommended by the community at Giovanni's.^[7]

Following the 40th anniversary of the store's opening, Hill gave ownership to Ed Hermance and Arleen Olshan in 1976.^[6] Hermance and Olshan moved the store first to 1426 Spruce Street and then to its final location on 12th and Pine in 1979.^[4] Olshan left the partnership in 1984.

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission unveiled a marker on Sunday, October 15, 2011, to commemorate the location of Giovanni’s Room, as it is the country's first LGBT bookstore still operating.^[13]^[14]

In April 2014 the store's owner of 38 years, Ed Hermance, announced his retirement plans and closed the store on May 17, 2014.^[15]^[4] He soon after made an agreement with Philly AIDS Thrift, and they held a grand reopening of the store as its proprietor on October 10th to coincide with Philadelphia Outfest, the city's annual gay block party.^[16]

During the COVID lock down Giovanni's Room started focusing on e-commerce to remain open and now post lock down is seeing an increase in in-person sales. As of 2024, there has been a mass surge in sales.^[17]

References

^ ^a ^b Connie Wu (July 25, 2014). "Nation's Oldest LGBT Bookstore Rescued from Closing". OutTraveler.
^ ^a ^b "Oldest US Gay Bookstore to Reopen in Philadelphia - ABC News". ABC News. Archived from the original on 2014-08-27. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
^ ^a ^b "EPGN". epgn.com. 18 September 2014. Retrieved 2020-03-30.
^ ^a ^b ^c Gillespie, Tyler (21 May 2014). "The Last Day at Giovanni's Room, America's Oldest Gay Bookstore". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
^ "Philly AIDS Thrift makes biggest donation since its founding in 2005". WHYY. Retrieved 2024-11-06.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Giovanni's Room records, circa 1975–1991" (PDF). John J. Wilcox, Jr. LGBT Archives. July 19, 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c Capital-Star, Special to the (2023-06-12). "Giovanni's Room: The Booksellers who built a community • Pennsylvania Capital-Star". Pennsylvania Capital-Star. Retrieved 2024-11-06.
^ "Now an institution, Philadelphia's once-pioneering gay bookstore turns 25". The Philadelphia Inquirer. October 7, 1998. p. 62. ProQuest 1855139308.
^ Tofani, Loretta (November 14, 1987). "Aids Books Are Increasingly on Stores' Shelves: One Store's Hot Subject, However, Draws Moderate Interest at Others". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
^ "History". Queer Books. Retrieved 2024-11-06.
^ Panaritis, Maria (April 30, 2014). "Trailblazing gay bookstore Giovanni's Room is closing". The Philadelphia Inquirer. pp. B4.
^ Winberg, Michaela (9 December 2021). "How Giovanni's Room reinvented itself to succeed as the oldest gay bookstore in the country". Billy Penn at WHYY.
^ Schechner, Karen. "Giovanni's Room Honored With Historical Marker". American Booksellers Association. Archived from the original on 29 April 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
^ "William Penn's Legacy, PHMC 2010–2011 Annual Report" (PDF). Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 July 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
^ Thomas, Angela. "Giovanni's Room to close next month". Philadelphia Gay News. Archived from the original on 2 July 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
^ Vernon, Clark (August 27, 2014). "Giovanni's Room is set to reopen: Landmark gay bookstore gets new management and an inventory beyond books". The Philadelphia Inquirer. pp. B2.
^ Broverman, Neal. "The Nation's Oldest LGBTQ+ Bookstore Is Ready for 50 More Years". www.advocate.com.