Charlie’s Queer Books is expanding to Capitol Hill with a new shop and cafe on E Pike

A recent Charlie’s author event (Image: @grandmajoysroadtrip)

(Image: Charlie’s Queer Books)

A scene from the 2025 fire

A neighborhood tragedy that left a valued Pike/Pine business space critically damaged is giving way to a happy new story.

Charlie’s Queer Books will open a second location on Capitol Hill this November, expanding to E Pike to join a community of businesses including the Wildrose and Elliott Bay Book Company, The Stranger was first to report.

The new Capitol Hill Charlie’s is under construction just west of 12th and Pike in the building where the Post Options business center and mailbox service was damaged in a destructive 2025 electrical fire.

Just over a year later, work on the new Charlie’s Queer Books is creating a new space, fully ADA accessible and roughly double the size of the Fremont flagship. Plans include a 50-seat event space, a coffee shop, and a wine bar, with robust plans for open mics, silent book clubs, and author readings.

Owners Charlie Hunts and Madeline Burchard told The Stranger adding a second store addresses shelf and event space limits at the flagship while expanding access to LGBTQ+ literature during a national surge in book bans and restrictive legislation. The couple noted that serving as a queer community anchor on Capitol Hill brings real responsibility, particularly for young trans patrons looking for a welcoming third space, while crediting Stephen Romano at 12th & Pike St. Associates with offering manageable lease terms.

Hunts started Charlie’s in 2023 as a mobile pop-up, hauling curated queer titles in a “disco”-tiled cart across Seattle Pride events. Later that year, the operation established its brick-and-mortar storefront on N 43rd in Fremont.

Inside the original Charlie’s (Image: Charlie’s Queer Books)

Charlie’s Queer Books sells books by LGBTQ+ authors and featuring LGBTQ+ themes and characters. For Capitol Hill longtimers, its shelves will bring reminders of the special sections at long gone at Bailey/Coy Books on Broadway or the Beyond the Closet Bookstore that also made E Pike home.

As for Post Options, the mailbox and small business center that served Capitol Hill restaurants, bars, shops, salons, tattoo parlors, etc., and an amazingly diverse roster of B corps, C corps, S corps, LLCs, and more for 13 years, its story also had an eventually satisfying if not fully happy resolution. CHS talked with owners Veti Cmoesongrsi and Nongnuch Paungpornsri agonizing about the hard but ultimately best decision to close permanently after the fire, buoyed with financial support from customers who contributed to a community fundraiser.

Now, the old Post Options space is also moving on to a satisfying new chapter.

Charlie’s Queer Books will open later this year at 1122 E Pike. Learn more at charliesqueerbooks.com.

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