To use an old cliche, a good time was had by all at Chamblin’s Uptown, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the opening of legendary bookstore Chamblin Bookmine. There was food, drinks, readings, celebration, and camaraderie, all surrounded by books of every kind, both new and used, on shelves, walls, countertops, and in people’s hands. I saw several good friends and made some new friends.
My first visit to Ron Chamblin’s used book store in the late 1970s was magical, like walking into Olivander’s Magic Wand shop in the Harry Potter books (although, of course, Harry Potter would not be introduced to the world until many years later).
Here, I’ll let Charlie Patton of the Florida Times-Union tell you what it was all about:
Over the last four decades, Chamblin has moved the Chamblin Bookmine twice and opened a second store, Chamblin’s Uptown, half-a-block from Hemming Park,while buying almost every book he can… With 33,000 square feet of retail space — 23,000 in his store on Roosevelt Boulevard and 10,000 downtown — and an additional 22,000 square feet of storage space in two warehouses, four tractor trailers and a barn at his house on Fleming Island — Chamblin accumulated what he estimates is about 3.5 million books… Because this is his 40th anniversary in the business, some of his friends and employees have organized a “BYOB and Buy-a-Book Block Party” that will take place from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday at Chamblin’s Uptown, 215 N. Laura St. One of those friends, Tim Gilmore, has written and published a biography, “We Are All Used Books: 70 Conversations with Ron Chamblin.”
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