{"id":382817,"date":"2026-08-27T18:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T18:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/382817\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T18:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T18:56:12","slug":"haslams-owners-break-their-six-year-silence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/382817\/","title":{"rendered":"Haslam\u2019s owners break their six-year silence"},"content":{"rendered":"

The owners of St. Petersburg\u2019s iconic Haslam\u2019s Book Store have spoken publicly for the first time in six years.<\/p>\n

In a statement sent exclusively to the St. Pete Catalyst, Ray Hinst and Suzanne Haslam Hinst addressed the \u201cparking lot concert\u201d announced for Saturday night by artist Filipe Bergson.<\/p>\n

We are grateful that so many people still love Haslam\u2019s.<\/p>\n

A concert advertised for Saturday night, August 29th, 2026, in our parking lot was not planned or authorized by our family. The organizer has not asked us for permission and has no connection to the store. The lot is private property and is not open for a public event.<\/p>\n

There will be no concert on this property. Please do not enter the parking lot. Anyone on the property without permission will be asked to leave.<\/p>\n

We ask people who care about Haslam\u2019s not to put themselves or this property at risk.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

The Owners<\/p>\n

Haslam\u2019s Book Store Inc<\/p>\n

Bergson said he was attempting to get the Hinsts\u2019 attention<\/a> by selling unauthorized Haslam\u2019s merchandise outside the store, and by scheduling Saturday\u2019s \u201cpop up\u201d concert with local musicians.<\/p>\n

The Haslam family opened its first store in 1933; it\u2019s been at the Central Avenue location since 1964.<\/p>\n

Haslam\u2019s Book Store closed at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, and has not re-opened. The couple have not indicated if and when the business will resume.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Haslam\u2019s signage was painted over Sept. 11, 2025. Photo by Jim Swallow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The owners of St. Petersburg\u2019s iconic Haslam\u2019s Book Store have spoken publicly for the first time in six…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-382817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}