The building at 1122 E Pike that sat damaged after a 2025 electrical fire is becoming a queer bookstore, coffee shop and wine bar.

Charlie's Queer Books, the Fremont shop that opened in November 2023 selling books by and about LGBTQ+ authors, plans to open a second location on Capitol Hill in November. The Stranger first reported the expansion on Sept. 17.

The new store will occupy the space just west of 12th and Pike where the Post Options business center operated for 13 years before an accidental electrical fire in July 2025 destroyed the interior. Post Options owners Veti Cmoesongrsi and Nongnuch Paungpornsri announced a permanent closure in August 2025, saying they could not rebuild and run the operation the way they had before.

Now the gutted space is under construction as a fully ADA-accessible shop roughly twice the size of the Fremont original. Plans include a 50-seat event space, a coffee shop and a wine bar, with programming such as open mics, silent book clubs and author readings, according to Capitol Hill Seattle Blog.

The shop ran out of room.

Owners Charlie Hunts and Madeline Burchard told The Stranger the Fremont flagship had hit its limits on shelf space and events. Hunts said the community response had been remarkable but the original store simply could not keep up with demand for events and gathering space.

"It has been remarkable how the Seattle queer and literary community have rallied around us. At this point, we've run out of space. Not only on the shelves, but also in terms of what this [current] location can handle for events and as a gathering space," Hunts told The Stranger.

The couple said the expansion also responds to a national surge in book bans and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. Burchard told The Stranger the store carries more responsibility than the average small business because of that political climate, particularly for young trans customers who look to the shop as a gathering place.

Hunts credited Stephen Romano at 12th & Pike St. Associates, the property managers, with keeping the lease affordable enough to sustain an independent bookstore on the Pike/Pine corridor. The new location sits next door to the Unicorn bar, across the street from the Wildrose and around the corner from Elliott Bay Book Company.

Hunts started Charlie's Queer Books in 2023 as a mobile pop-up, hauling queer titles in a disco-tiled cart across Seattle Pride events before opening the brick-and-mortar shop in Fremont later that year. The coffee and wine bar at the Capitol Hill location will help fund free community programming, Hunts told The Stranger.

Capitol Hill was once home to Beyond the Closet Bookstore and Bailey/Coy Books, two LGBTQ+-friendly shops that have since closed.

A specific opening date in November has not been announced. Updates are available at charliesqueerbooks.com.