Two Dollar Radio HQ reopens with an expanded ownership group and a similarly expanded vision for the future

A couple of years back, Two Dollar Radio Headquarters co-founder Eric Obenauf began to consider how to best approach the future of the Parsons Avenue bookstore and cafe, having struggled through a pandemic and a pair of Trump administrations that have sent expenses skyrocketing and fueled a wider economic uncertainty that has left many small businesses feeling the crush.

“Something I was always aware of and heard from older booksellers is you should try to own your building so that you’re not squeezed out, whether it’s gentrification or real estate. So, it had always been in the back of my head that we should try to find our forever home, and we did make a big play to do that,” said Obenauf, who made a push to bring in new co-owners when this property failed to materialize. “And then the timing wasn’t right, and things just didn’t develop in the way we hoped they would.”

And so, last fall, Obenauf put out a community call in the store’s newsletter, laying bare the economic uncertainty faced by the shop and making an open pitch to anyone who might have ideas about how to solidify a future for what has served as a South Side community hub since it opened in September 2017.

“I think a big part from opening was to give authorship of the space to people with good ideas, to open the doors to people to try different things, to have conversations around topics that are pressing for the community, and to have it become what other people want it to be,” said Obenauf, who described his pitch as a last-ditch effort to save the store. “It was like, this is the call … and if no one responds, then we’ll throw in the towel.”

What emerged, however, was an outpouring of support, with conversations taking place “naturally, holistically,” as Obenauf put it, around shifting HQ toward a more co-operative structure. As a result of these conversations, the Obenaufs are now joined in an ownership group that also includes poet Matthew Ellis, Anyway Records founder Bela Koe-Krompecher, cultural anthropologist Lindsay Vogt, writer Ivan Davenny, and mixologist Katie Sinclair. (Both Davenny and Sinclair are longtime HQ staffers.)

“And everyone is bringing their own skillset to the group, which is important. … Whereas before, it was me having to juggle five different aspects of the business, which was too much,” said Obenauf, who in 2025 struck a deal for Seven Stories to acquire the publishing arm of Two Dollar Radio, with Obenauf remaining in place as Two Dollar’s publisher and editorial director, and his spouse, Eliza Wood-Obenauf, continuing as consulting editor. “It was really just a matter of finding the right people and making sure everyone was committed and passionate about it, because you start very excited, and maybe you even have an overflowing tank. And I’m at a point in my life where I just turned 45 and maybe my tank is depleted. And so, it needs fresh energy and new ideas. And I think that’s a big part of what everyone is bringing in different ways.”

Amid this restructuring, HQ also launched a crowdfunding campaign that ends this weekend and is helping to support current renovations, which among other things have included extensive plumbing work, the repair of two refrigerators, refinishing the floors, remodeling the bathrooms, and building new tables and shelving for expanded book and record offerings. (Most recently, the co-op learned that the part needed to repair its damaged espresso machine is no longer manufactured, necessitating the purchase of a new one.)

These updates were nearing completion as the shop prepared to celebrate its reopening tonight, Thursday, Oct. 8, with an author event featuring Stephanie Schechner discussing her translations of Mireille Best, a transgressive queer French writer. HQ will then host a relaunch party in the updated space on Friday, Oct. 9.

When Obenauf put out his initial call, Ellis was the first to respond, compelled, Ellis said, by a desire to be part of a place that has been central to his Columbus experience. “When I moved to Columbus, I pretty quickly found this place,” said Ellis, who joined Vogt and Obenauf in the interview at HQ. “And I want to see it continue to thrive … as this big, communal hub right here.”

Vogt, a Columbus native who now splits her time between her hometown and Switzerland, where she teaches at the University of Zurich, expressed a similar desire, holding up Two Dollar HQ as a cultural institution that needs to be preserved amid a surge in citywide corporate investment. “Going back and forth between Columbus and wherever else I’ve been the last 15 years, I see how much the city has become this sponge for capital investment, and how much that has totally remade big sections and reduced accessibility in the city. … I just think about the independent art scene in Columbus 20 years ago, 25 years ago, and how many places have been shut down.”

Along with an expanded ownership group, Two Dollar HQ is reopening with expanded, six-day-a-week hours, with plans to operate from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. The store now also features an expanded cocktail list created by Sinclair and a robust (and growing) events calendar that in the next few weeks includes a reading from poet Sarah Abou Rashed (Oct. 17), Maha Hashwi reading from their debut poetry collection, The Pomegranate Is a Grenade (Oct. 18), and a Halloween lineup featuring musicians Sadie Dupuis (Speedy Ortiz) and Dylan Baldi (Cloud Nothings).

“I think increasing the event program and having more readings, music shows, discussions, yoga will help re-engage the community,” Obenauf said. “Ideally, we’re all sort of realizing that we’re dealing with a collective reckoning with culture and how it’s being respected and supported. And obviously Trump cutting funding for the arts sends a signal nationally. … I think this is a time where people are realizing that if we care about something, we also need to support it through action.”