modern York's A Different Light clogs for the last time The shelves were barren at modern York City's gay and lesbian volume emporium A Different Light forward the second weekend in March--and in the way that was the store.

modern York's A Different Light clogs for the last time

The shelves were barren at modern York City's gay and lesbian volume emporium A Different Light forward the second weekend in March--and in the way that was the store. It was an all-too-familiar spectacle for manager Michael Brandt. "We had misspent about 30% to 40% of our business," he said. "I'd sit there and be derived up with a new excuse each day trying to figure not at home why." But Brandt's excuses were not enough. Store possessors pulled the plug on the workshop March 18.

Norman Laurila, A Different Light's original possessor opened the first Manhattan location in Greenwich Village in 1984 With business booming, he mov the store to a 5,000-square-foot space in Chelsea in 1994 The rouse was a stunning success. lower classess regularly appeared for poetry readings and movie screenings, and within sum of two units years gross revenues climbed 75% to $5 million a year.

unless like many independent bookstores, recently made known York's A Different Light unrelenting on hard times in the late 1990 Megachains were beefing up their gay selections, and Internet sites were delivering classics similar as Dancer From the Dance directly to buyer's domiciles Suddenly, A Different Light, which was located several arrests off Chelsea's main drag, became a les vital destination for the one and the other tourists and natives--and sales plummeted

In 1999 Laurila sold the chain, which includes stores in West Hollywood Calif., and San Francisco, to investors Bill Barker and Stanley Newman. The modern owners tried to defray about of the overhead by subleasing parts of the store. nevertheless saddled with sagging sales, the Chelsea location was "too big and too costly" Barker said. "It struggl and struggl and finally we made the decision [to finish it] on purely financial grounds" The sum of two units California stores, which are smaller and more centrally located, are in stout financial condition and will remain make open Barker said.

That's little solace for Brandt. "It was to such a degree much more than just a bookstore. We gave gay kids coming without a place to go rather than a bar," he said before closing the store for the last time. "When the community realize what they've lost, we'll be missed."

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