The death of lesbian businesses
In Alameda County, where Oakland has more lesbian couples per capita than any other major city in the United States, two bookstores that catered to women and lesbians have shut their doors in the past few years. This spring, two lesbian magazines headquartered in San Francisco ceased publication; the final sale of their assets was announced last week. There are only two bars in the city that cater to lesbian clientele.
"In the 1970s and '80s, there were seven active women's bars in the city; that's what we used for socializing," said Maureen McEvoy, a board member of the Golden Gate Business Association, the Bay Area's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender chamber of commerce.
"Ultimately what happened was we couldn't support them financially, and one by one they went out of business," said McEvoy. Speaking of her organization's 480 member businesses, she said, "A lot are certainly lesbian-owned, but they just can't afford to be that exclusive."
I've seen this discussed many times before, and it's always interesting to me. I've seen others chalk it up to the essential differences in the cultures of lesbians vs. gay men. Supposedly, gay male culture is more oriented around going out and engaging in consumerist activities (shopping, dining, dancing, drinking, etc.) while lesbian culture is more DIY and community based (i.e. having people over for dinner, entertaining in the home, engaging in non-consumerist group activities).
I'm not sure how much of it I believe, but it would explain why gay male businesses do so much better than lesbian businesses.