The strip club “Show & Tel” in South Philly on Columbus Boulevard is for sale

For more than 30 years, Show & Tel has served Philadelphia’s raunchy club scene with a nude show and a massive store filled with porn videos and fetish items. But it looks like the strip club at the corner of South Christopher Columbus Boulevard and Mifflin Street will soon be no more, as the property has been put up for sale for $3.5 million.

An ad from MPN Realty says the former industrial building, built in 1930, offers potential buyers “versatile uses.” The area has seen significant development in the decades since Show & Tel and Club Risque, another strip club north on Columbus Boulevard, formed an adult entertainment enclave. Today, there are shopping centers on both sides of the route, which runs parallel to I-95 and the Delaware River.

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“Columbus Boulevard is a major street that really connects South Philadelphia and North Philadelphia,” said Roman Melnyk of MPN Realty. “I think a lot of development is happening there, with the entire waterfront closer to Spring Garden (Street). It’s just the trickle-down effect.”

An employee who answered the phone at Show & Tel Friday morning referred questions to the club’s owner, who could not immediately be reached for comment. Melnyk said he expects Show & Tel to close at some point after the property is sold. Ken Malin, president of MPN Realty, said later Friday that the future of the strip club in its current form depends on the buyer. Show & Tel’s website says the place has been remodeled at some point over the years.

“It’s a unique property because of the cargo space in the back,” Malin said, adding that it would be attractive for more than one use by the same owner.

How it turns out may depend on the licenses and what work needs to be done on the three-story building. The list price is just under $110 per square meter.

“It’s zoned industrial, but you need a gathering permit and a cabaret license to use it (as a strip club),” Melnyk said. “I believe it’s site specific and they’re trying to limit it to one area because there are obviously a few strip clubs in that area.”

Before being used as a strip club, the 32,000-square-foot property at 1900 S. Christopher Columbus Blvd. was once home to wholesale grocery store Spatola-Thompson, OCF Realty reported. It was built as a warehouse and still offers appealing features for that purpose, including the large loading area with five garage doors.

“I don’t think it will remain a strip club,” Melnyk said. “I think it will be converted to something with industrial use. Other than that, it’s a strip club right now. I could also see it being converted to a regular nightclub. I’ve already had some preliminary interest from other nightclub operators just because of the way it’s set up now.”

Melnyk said it was too early to say whether Show & Tel’s liquor license would be part of the property’s sale or if it would be sold separately.

Columbus Boulevard – originally Delaware Avenue before the lower part of the street was renamed in the 1990s – was instrumental in the development of the Port of Philadelphia, becoming the city’s main food and freight route in the early 20th century before I-95 was built in the late 1950s. The old Philadelphia Belt Line tracks – still used by freight companies – run along the centerline of the boulevard, and the Penn’s Landing Trolley also once ran along this section.

Philadelphia’s efforts to revamp the waterfront will be headlined by the 11 1/2-acre park over I-95 at Penn’s Landing. Part of that project includes extending the South Street pedestrian bridge to the east side of Columbus Boulevard so visitors can disembark right on the riverfront. Major development projects are also planned on the waterfront north of Penn’s Landing.

Melnyk expects that as these projects progress, the areas south of Columbus Boulevard will also continue to be developed.

“It’s similar to how developers in Fishtown are following the (SEPTA Market-Frankford Line). They’re developing everything along Front Street that’s under the elevated rail and pushing it further and further,” Melnyk said. “I think the same thing is happening in South Philadelphia with the changes along Washington Avenue in terms of structuring the actual street – with bike lanes, turning lanes and making it more user-friendly for pedestrians. I could certainly see something like that happening on Columbus Boulevard.”

Many of Philadelphia’s other strip clubs are located along I-95, including Cheerleaders to the south on Front Street and Delilah’s to the north on Spring Garden Street. There are also plenty of them in Northeast Philadelphia, downtown, and along the Schuylkill River in Southwest Philadelphia. Even though Show & Tel’s days in Philadelphia are almost numbered, there is no shortage of places with a similar atmosphere.

“I think the interesting thing about this listing is that it gives a lot of buyers the creativity to say, ‘Listen, here’s a really well-located building in an area that’s obviously had a lot of development,'” Melnyk said.