Sam Weller's Celebrates a Milestone

After surviving the stock market crash of 1929, World War II, a couple of recessions, and a four-alarm fire, Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore in Salt Lake City, Utah, is celebrating its 75th anniversary this August. What started out as a furniture and used-book store has evolved into a four-floor, 40,000-square-foot institution with six miles of bookshelves and approximately one million titles.

The entrance to Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore in Salt Lake City (above) and some of its six miles of bookshelves (below).

Owner Tony Weller credits the store's more recent success to "the size of our store; the breadth of our selection and our array of books from new to used to rare; our thorough and dogged efforts to locate books; and a good and long standing reputation...." It's early survival Weller attributed "to the rugged, working-class, Depression-era perseverance of my forebears."

The bookstore was founded by German immigrant and Mormon convert Gustav Weller. When Gustav's son, Sam Weller, was serving in the Second World War, Gustav signed over the bookstore to him. "It wasn't exactly what Sam had in mind," said Catherine Weller, part-owner of Sam Weller's and Tony's wife. Sam took over management of the store and became the owner in 1946. He added new books to the inventory and invited to the bookstore, and became friends with, Ansel Adams, Alfred Knopf, and Wallace Stegner, among countless others.

Sam Weller's has changed locations several times and in 1962 moved into its current space, a 102-year-old building that the Wellers co-own with others in downtown Salt Lake City. Of the square footage, 75 percent is used for selling, and the remainder is storage and offices. There's a mezzanine that skirts the third floor that Sam Weller added after he saw something similar in the old Scribner store in New York City, said Catherine Weller.

Of his choice to take over the family business, Tony Weller explained that when he was a child, "both my parents worked so I was in the bookstore a lot. The staff seemed like an extended family to me.

"A bookstore is a magnet for smart and interesting people, readers. My parents' staff were no exception, but as a child, I thought they were representative of the adult world. It wasn't until I was in college that I realized how remarkable the book-people I had known my whole life were.... It was about then that I realized that I wanted to continue in the family trade."

In 1997, Tony became the owner of Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore.

Catherine Weller talked about how both she and Tony hope that their daughter, Lila Ann, will be a fourth-generation bookseller. Lila Ann said that's what she'd like, too. "Though your plans tend to change when you're seven," said Catherine.

A mural of a giant bookshelf is being painted by artist Paul Heathon on an exterior wall of the bookstore to commemorate its 75th anniversary.

To commemorate their 75th anniversary, Sam Weller's hosted a private reception for friends in the bookselling community, politicians, press, authors, and customers. A short program honoring the store included speeches by Tony and several faculty of the University of Utah. Artist Paul Heath is painting a mural of a giant bookshelf on the north side of the building (see photo at left). The store also offered a 25 percent discount on all used books and 10 percent off rare.

Catherine Weller talked about some of the recent changes at the bookstore. One daunting project that's taken some months to execute is changing the arrangement of titles. "We've spent a good portion of this year integrating new and used stock in attempt to change our marketing strategy. We want customers to experience the enormous selection we have to offer."

The Wellers have also added a Spanish language section that's "a little store within our store," said Catherine. "Our biggest immediate plans are to have the Spanish language store become heavily established in the Latino community. We're already pretty well established with institutional accounts of libraries and schools. For the rest of the community, we think it will develop through word of mouth."

Tony Weller told BTW about some additional plans: "We are in the process of striking an agreement with a local coffee shop, and I back-burner dream about someday collaborating with a broad-based, new-and-used music dealer."

The bookstore signed onto Book Sense early in the program. "We're big fans of Book Sense," said Catherine Weller. "We made a lot of modifications that were necessary to be a Book Sense store. We incorporated it into our bags, etc. We think it has assisted the sales of our new books. I can see that from our sales records. Book Sense books consistently sell from our display and stacks."

Catherine, who started out as a librarian before marrying Tony in 1991 and becoming a bookseller in 1994, said that running a bookstore "can be difficult at times, sometimes it's difficult financially. But I can't imagine doing anything else. Books and reading are so important to me and to our society. Growing readers, keeping readers, it's a calling. I can't imagine anyplace else I'd rather be." --Karen Schechner