ST. PETERSBURG, FL — “499,533 T-shirts to go,” artist Filipe Bergson wrote in a social media post on Thursday, the latest in a string of similar daily announcements.
What might sound cryptic is actually simple: In recent weeks, Bergson launched a nostalgia-fueled bid to buy and reopen the long-dormant Haslam’s Bookstore at 2025 Central Ave.
To do so, he hopes to raise the money he needs by selling 500,000 “bootleg” T-shirts featuring a drawing he made in college about a decade ago of one of Haslam’s infamous bookstore cats.
Bergson, whose professional background is predominantly in film, is popping up in front of the store on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., including this coming Saturday, which happens to be Independent Bookstore Day, to sell his T-shirts, art, stickers and zines.
“I’m doing it one shirt at a time,” he told Patch.
But is he truly in a position to buy the iconic Grand Central District bookstore? For now, he’s approaching the idea with a wink and a smile — after all, Haslam’s isn’t even on the market.
“I’m committed to the bit,” the artist said, adding that if the opportunity to actually buy the store arose, he “wouldn’t say no.”
The family-owned bookstore, founded in 1933, went dark in early 2020, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when businesses across the globe either shuttered their doors or pivoted how they operated.
At the time, Haslam's announced that it was “closing in the interest of public safety” starting on March 22 that year, according to a message that remains on its website.
It never reopened.
According to Haslam’s website, it covers about 30,000 square feet — though the Pinellas County property appraiser’s office estimates that the building is about 8,100 square feet — with more than 300,000 books, many of which can still be seen when passersby peer through the windows into the darkened store.
But there hasn’t been a peep from the store’s owners since 2021, when co-owner Ray Hinst told the Tampa Bay Times, “For a variety of personal and professional reasons Suzanne [his wife] and I are still undecided about reopening the bookstore to the public. We appreciate everyone’s interest and are trying to consider all aspects of the situation. In the meantime our kitties are very happy in their new homes in the area.”
There are no signs on the building acknowledging its closure, though there are several “no trespassing” signs, and nothing at the property changed until this past fall, when the building’s murals, including one advertising “titles from art to zoology and ‘A’ to ‘Izzard’” and another featuring the Haslam’s name and logo, were painted over beige to match the outdoor walls’ base color.
Haslam’s is listed as permanently closed on its Google business page and the phone number listed on its website is out of service.
Despite this, the company’s Florida Profit Corporation listing on Sunbiz.org, the official website of the Florida Division of Corporations, is active and current. It’s been updated regularly each year since the store closed at the start of the pandemic.
Patch contacted an email address associated with Haslam’s, but hasn’t received a response.
The massive bookstore, which takes up about half a city block, has been a giant question mark over the last five years.
“That whole block has been a little shrouded in mystery,” Chris Arnold, executive director for the Grand Central District Association, told Patch.
Though many have tried to reach out to Hinst, including some interested in potentially buying the business, the property or both, “the owners have not been forthcoming about their plans,” Arnold said.
The uncertainty surrounding Haslam’s has impacted other businesses on the 2000 block of Central Avenue, he added. “Over the last six months or so, everyone left.”
Several nearby businesses in the building next door have closed, changed hands or gone quiet in recent months.
Taphouse 61, previously Sly Bar before it was rebranded, closed in March after nine years.
Little Philly closed at the end of last year.
Love Food Central got new owners, who rebranded the business as FireWater Cuisine and Wellness, which opened at the end of last year. Its Google business page has the restaurant listed as permanently closed.
Central Cycling, an indoor spin studio, changed owners during this timeframe, Arnold said.
Sip Shop Hooray is temporarily closed as it refreshes its space to transform “into a curated gourmet pantry [and] elevated gifting experience,” according to its website.
And Tampa’s Favorite Salon’s new St. Pete location is under construction in this stretch.
“It’s hard to know what’s going on over there, especially whenever you see a whole strip of stores disappear,” Arnold said. “That is the only block in the district I have no idea what’s going on.”
Patch reached out to Brian Zucker with Axxos Commercial Real Estate, who is handling leasing for this strip of storefronts, for comment. This story will be updated if he responds.
These and other major changes to the city, as St. Petersburg grows and attracts new developments, are the real reason Bergson has launched his bid to buy Haslam’s.
Fueled by personal nostalgia, he hopes to get people thinking about the city’s rapid evolution.
Born in St. Pete and raised in Pinellas County, he’s always been a storyteller and was drawn to the bookstore even as a child.
“We all went there growing up. I have very fond memories of my dad taking me there,” he said.
He moved to Brazil with his family during high school, but returned to St. Petersburg to attend the University of South Florida.
“I came back here for college and I was going to Haslam’s all the time,” Bergson said. “Whenever I was bored, I’d just go there, find a book, flip through it, maybe buy one, pet some cats. It was a great place to take a date, honestly, and it’s haunted.”
He added, “And now there’s a whole generation of kids that don’t know about it, which is crazy to me.”
It wasn’t a shock that Haslam’s shut down during the pandemic, Bergson said. “But then it just remained vacant this whole time with the books still in it. And every time I pass it, I’m always like, ‘The books are in there, dude.’”
He’s also long been drawn to local lore and history, even working as an editor on the documentary “Razed” about St. Pete’s Gas Plant neighborhood.
“I love local history and getting people to remember how things were and talking about the good and the bad, and then going into the future, how can we take the good, bring that back, emphasize more of that, and integrate it into the modern world, basically,” Bergson said.
Every time he passed Haslam’s darkened door, he became more and more compelled to do something about it. As he plans to move north, to a bigger city, maybe Philadelphia or New York, later this year, he realized the bookstore could be his last big local project before relocating.
“Why don’t I just say that I’m going to try to open up Haslam’s and see how far I can take this? My favorite thing is when a joke becomes reality. That is, I think, the epitome of storytelling for me,” Bergson said. “When you just, like, put something into the universe and you’re like, ‘What are you gonna do with this universe?’ I’ve said this out loud; now, let’s see what happens.”
In addition to selling Haslam’s T-shirts in a somewhat faux attempt to purchase the bookstore, he’s also collecting content for a zine about the shop — stories, comics, drawings, photos, tattoos, memories.
Bergson’s accepting submissions for the publication through May 1 at haslamszine@gmail.com.
Throughout this journey, he’s learned that many others love the bookstore as much as he does. An English teacher and aspiring writer who discovered a love of science fiction in the store’s discount stacks. A woman who spent many hours at Haslam’s with her late husband whenever they visited from Michigan. Many older residents who still look to the store as a local landmark.
As much as his desire to buy the bookstore started out tongue-in-cheek, Bergson is allowing for a tiny bit of hope that it could actually happen.
“Like I said, it started as a joke. It’s about making people think it’s reality until it becomes reality, because that is just manifestation; that’s all it is. How do I make enough people believe in something to bring it into reality?” he said. “If we can raise enough money and the stars align, cool. That would be dope. Again, I wouldn’t say no.”
And he feels like deep down Haslam’s owners want to see new life at the store.
“They could have sold it, but they haven’t. In my gut, it just feels like they want someone cool to come through and manage the bookstore,” Bergson said.
That could be the jolt of energy the ailing block needs, he said. “Even if we just got someone in there to run the bookstore and spruce it up a little bit, that would be great for all the restaurants and stores on the block, as well.”
For now, Bergson lives his life as performance art, blurring the lines of reality.
“I can make a film about some guy trying to open Haslam’s, or I can just be the guy trying to open Haslam’s. I can just do the thing. I’ll just live the movie,” he said. “I’ll do that and see what grows out of it. That should be a new motto or mantra for me: I could shoot the film or I could live the film.”
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