“We are reaching out to people who have an affinity for the community,” Barnum said in 2014. “We are not marketing to corporate buyers. We are looking for people who will own and operate it and want to be in the area and know what Georgie’s means to the community. It’s painful, all the way around, but it’s better to be for sale then just be closed.”īoth buildings were owned by Shoppes of Kenwood LLC and sold to a development company out of Tampa.
“Sadly,” Barnum said, “Georgie’s is leaving the community.”īut, beyond diminishing returns, the reasons why are unclear. Georgie’s was a place where many LGBT men and women came of age. The Alibi, as many playfully called it, opened its doors for business in 1998 and gave a generation of LGBT Burgians (and their allies) a place to experience many first-times and rites of passage. “If I was going to take any kind of straight friend out for their first gay bar, Alibi was a great option,” says Jeff Klein, local comedian and former Georgie’s bartender.
