#11. Bob’s News & Book Store

Jan 24

📚 BOB’S NEWS & BOOK STORE

📍 LOCATION: 1515 South Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA 🇺🇸

🕰 HOURS: Open daily (Mon-Sun) 7am-10pm, 365 days of the year!

📲 SOCIAL LINKS:

Bob’s News & Books, with its rebellious, raunchy edge, feels like the outlaw of bookshops retaliating against Florida’s state-wide book ban (pack of smokes in tow and a giant middle finger in the air).

It’s impossible for me to showcase bookshops in Florida without mentioning the raging war on books across America, with more than 40% of nationwide book bans happening in Floridian school districts. In 2022, the state governor passed a bill banning books about sexuality, gender identity, race, racism, and LGBTQ+ characters in schools and libraries.

Many of the banned books include prize-winning classics such as The Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Bluest Eye. This kind of censorship is grossly appalling to me, which is why visiting bookstores — like Bob’s News & Books — that are visibly fighting back against these mandates, makes my literary heart swell with pride.

Bob’s News & Books is not your typical corner convenient store. As a family owned and operated business for over 50 years, their motto is “If you can’t find it at Bob’s, then you probably won’t find it anywhere else.”

They make no secret of proudly selling banned books with large overhead signs, “I Read Banned Books” t-shirts, “I’m with the Banned” mugs, and orange stickers marking all of their banned book titles.

The aisles are narrow and the shelves neatly packed with a vast array of plastic wrapped books — everything from erotica, to science fiction, to spirituality, to comics, to Newtonian mathematics, to the classics, and current best sellers. They also have one of the widest selections of newspapers, magazines, and literary journals from around the world.

Brimming with sexual overtones, their 18+ adult-only section includes vintage porno mags, XXX-rated books, DVDs, and adult toys. In addition, they also carry imported cigars, lotto tickets, a bitcoin ATM, cigarettes, rare candies, drug paraphernalia, plus snacks and drinks galore (I stocked up for my bike ride back to the hotel).

Long live free speech! Long live literature!