Tampa Book Buzz

i’ll meet you at micklersmith florida booktraders

Recently I mentioned an article in the St. Pete Times about MicklerSmith Florida BookTraders, a new bookstore in St. Pete that specializes in books about Florida and by Florida authors. Proprietor T. Allan Smith was kind enough to post this comment:

Lisa,

Thank you for the mention of MicklerSmith Florida BookTraders on your wonderful book blog. It’s the perfect union of the old and new, isn’t it? A modern online space devoted to the ancient pleasure of curling up with a good book.You and your readers are invited to come over for a cup of coffee, a sweet delicacy and good conversation about Florida literature. We’re surrounded by the likes of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Zora Neale Hurston, John D. MacDonald, Carl Hiaasen and many others. (Did you know that Theodore Pratt, who wrote The Barefoot Mailman, also wrote two other books about the development of Florida? The others were The Flame Tree, about the turn-of-the-century railroad era, and The Big Bubble, about the 1920s real estate boom. He called them his Florida trilogy.)

Ours is a mission more than a retail endeavor. We are honored to carry on the work of Tom and Georgine Mickler, who were the premier purveyors of Floridiana for decades. They started Mickler’s Floridiana more than 40 years ago in the tiny town of Chuluota in Seminole County. Lovers of Florida literature and memorabilia came from all over the state to their old Florida home, Florida Breezes, to discover forgotten treasures. For more than 15 years a retail store was open in nearby Oviedo.

Now we’re ensconced in a delightful 1920s building at the edge of Old Northeast, one of St. Petersburg’s great old neighborhoods. We think it’s the perfect place to celebrate the arts and culture of this great state. Our shelves are packed with volumes both old and new chronicling Florida’s history, offering advice and information on living here and getting the most out of most human pursuits, or simply spinning tales of this subtropical paradise. (By the way, we also have Florida folk music, thanks to help from our friends Pete Gallagher and Bobby Hicks on The Florida Folk Show on WMNF 88.5 FM.)

As wired as our world gets, there remains a visceral pleasure in exploring the shelves of a local bookstore, just as there is a visceral pleasure to settling down with a newfound treasure. We believe in local, independent bookstores, and we believe that there will always be patrons who understand and willingly support such institutions. Far from dying, locals bookstores continue to thrive because they offer a pleasure unmatched online or in the chain stores.

Keep up the good work in furthering the cause of reading great books. Yours is a mission as well!

And come on over! The coffee’s on!

T. Allan Smith
Proprietor
MicklerSmith Florida BookTraders

I’ll race you there — ready, set, go!