April 15, 2026
Provided Image/MPN Realty
South Philly strip club Show & Tel has closed after more than three decades on South Christopher Columbus Boulevard. The property, originally a warehouse built in 1930, was sold for $2.3 million.
Show & Tel, the South Philly strip club that opened on Columbus Boulevard in the 1990s, is now closed and the property has been sold to a buyer who plans to use it for storage and office space.
The building at 1900 S. Christopher Columbus Blvd. sold for $2.3 million, said Ken Mallin, president and CEO of MPN Realty, which represented Show & Tel owner Ray Miles in the sale. The 32,000-square-foot property, which was built in 1930, was listed two years ago for $3.5 million, but the asking price was later lowered to attract a buyer.
"We had a lot of action on this one," Mallin said. "There was a lot of interest. You had some guys that wanted the strip club, but they weren't the predominant buyer. People had different uses in mind, and this buyer was the one that we and the seller liked the most."
MPN did not disclose the name of the buyer, but said the new owner also has properties on Washington Avenue.
"The building is a large warehouse that had some improvements done to it over the years," Mallin said. "This buyer owns a variety of businesses, so this is a place where he can have an office and have storage."
Show & Tel operated as both a strip club and a retail store that sold X-rated videos and fetish gear. The business slowed down in recent years and had been open only a few nights a week.
"I think it started with the pandemic," Mallin said. "Obviously, with a business like that, people weren't flocking to it. In various conversations with (Miles), I think he indicated that it started to slow down then and just continued so he wasn't open every day."
Before its days as a strip club, the property at the intersection of Mifflin Street and S. Christopher Columbus Blvd. was once the home of food wholesaler Spatola-Thompson. It was built as a warehouse and has a large loading area at the back of the building. The site is zoned for industrial use but operated as a strip club with a cabaret license. Club Risque, another strip club, is still open just north at 1700 Christopher Columbus Blvd.
The surrounding area has two shopping centers, Columbus Crossings and Southport, and appears to be poised for new development. Several blocks north at Wharton Street, New York-based developer Brevet Capital is planning a residential tower that will bring 620 units to the waterfront and could be the first of several high rises at that site.
"I think it's improved dramatically," Mallin said of the stretch along Columbus Boulevard. "There's some nice retail down there, and I think it will be a variety of different things."
Elsewhere in the area, PennDOT and the city are progressing on the project to cap Interstate 95 and build an 11.5-acre park at Penn's Landing that will open by the end of the decade. An extension of the South Street Pedestrian Bridge also will cross Columbus Boulevard, making the waterfront more accessible. PennDOT is expected to install the bridge's arch later this year ahead of an opening in 2027.
Some of the interested buyers for the Show & Tel property mentioned the possibility of converting the building into a residence.
"I think that was slightly premature, but I think that's what's probably going to happen (in the area) eventually," Mallin said.
