And after that, it was either New York or LA.”Ĭurrently, Rainbow Road sells merchandise geared toward gay men, including T-shirts, clubbing outfits, and dildos. “Nobody had a store like this in Minnesota,” he says. Back then, Connelly says, his store was one of few like it in the Midwest. Jim Connelly, who is about to turn 72, opened Rainbow Road in 1996 to fill a gap in the market, making this year the store’s 25th anniversary.
From the outside, people can look in and see the rainbow feather boas, the colorful underwear, and LGBTQ+ themed tank tops sitting in the back of the store. In Loring Park, a couple blocks away from where the Twin Cities Pride festival is typically held every year, Rainbow Road sits in a strip mall. Rainbow Road in Loring Park has served as a gay haven for a quarter of a century
