Sellers Underground Closes Permanently

Local gay bar Sellers Underground has shuttered its doors. The Fourth Street fixture, which was just days shy of celebrating its fourth anniversary, announced its permanent closure in an Instagram post on Saturday (Dec. 5), writing “COVID-19 capacity restrictions have made it impossible for us to continue.”

Sellers was home to several queer parties, like this Austin Pride party in 2018. (Photo by Jana Birchum)

Located at 213 W. Fourth – sandwiched directly in-between Oilcan’s and Rain on 4th – the bar reopened earlier in November under the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission’s rule allowing bars to apply for certification to temporarily reclassify them as restaurants, thus allowing them to reopen while Travis County bars remain closed.

Following North Austin’s BT2’s closure in May, Sellers is now Austin’s second gay bar to close because of the pandemic. Opened in 2016 by Michael Icenhauer, owner of the eponymous Rainey Street bar Icenhauer's, Sellers was home to several drag show residencies as well as Lesbutante and the Boss’ monthly Ladies Night, among other queer parties leading up to the pandemic. Previously, the space was home to another gay bar, Castro’s Warehouse, and before that the notorious Hyde/Qua bars operated by the Yassine brothers.