A new sapphic-centered café is officially open in Garfield.
The Soft Spot has opened its doors as a sober, accessibility-focused gathering space for queer community members in Pittsburgh. After months of anticipation and buildout updates, the café is now welcoming guests for regular hours and community programming.
“We are over the MOOOOON!” the team shared on Instagram ahead of opening week, noting that their kickoff “Sleepover” event nearly sold out before doors officially opened.
Aerin Adams, the “Lesbian in Charge,” previously told QBurgh that The Soft Spot was born out of frustration and hope amid the rising need for safe spaces.
“I kept seeing this escalation, and this lack of safety,” she said. “It was very easy for me to say, ‘I’m going to do something different.’”
That “something different” has taken shape as a café designed for queer folks to gather, rest, and resist, with soft lighting, strong coffee, poetry readings, arm-wrestling tournaments, and space intentionally built for connection.
Accessibility is a defining feature of the space. The Soft Spot includes a ramped entrance and a one-level floor plan throughout, along with roll-up seating at the bar and lounge and table layouts designed with mobility devices in mind. The café also features large accessible bathrooms, including one spacious enough to accommodate assisted lifts.
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In addition to prioritizing physical accessibility, The Soft Spot is intentionally sober-friendly, offering coffee, snacks, and non-alcoholic beverages in a setting that is not centered around nightlife or alcohol consumption.
Beyond drinks and snacks, The Soft Spot functions as a flexible community hub. The space includes co-working areas with ample outlets, cozy seating for conversation and rest, games and crafts to spark connection, and a curated bookshelf filled with queer reads. Aerin described it as a family-centered space designed for people to meet, gather, and grow together.
Dedicated sapphic-centered spaces in Pittsburgh have historically been limited, and the Soft Spot enters that landscape with a hybrid model, part café, part community hub, part organizing space. Now officially open, it offers something many in Pittsburgh’s queer community have long called for. A soft, sober, accessible place to gather.