The King's English: Spoken in Utah for 30 Years

The King's English, a center of book culture and local business activism in Salt Lake City, Utah, is celebrating its 30th anniversary on September 10. The 2,000-square-foot store, with retail space divided among eight cozy, book-filled rooms, started anniversary festivities in January 2007 with updated store decor and the beginning of its 30-30-30 sale.

From January through September 2007, shoppers have received a 30 percent discount on hardcover books in a different section of inventory, on the 30th day of each month. A storewide 30 percent sale is being held on September 10, along with a champagne reception, a drawing for $30 Book Sense gift cards, and an appearance by author Diane Ackerman.

Owners Betsy Burton and Barbara Hoagland wrote in an open letter to customers: "We hope that, as we do, you think of us not as some aging and august institution but rather as in our prime -- old enough to have acquired some wisdom, but still vibrant, attractive, and vital enough ... to match all of you, young and old alike, with the perfect book."

Included in a special 30th anniversary commemorative edition of the store's newsletter, Inkslinger, will be 30 lists of the staff's 30 favorite books over the past 30 years, Burton told BTW.

Burton, who founded the store in 1977 with Ann Berman, is no stranger to book lists. Her 2005 highly praised memoir, The King's English: Adventures of an Independent Bookseller (Gibbs Smith), is full of them, along with anecdotes about authors, customers, and books. She has now experienced author events from both sides of the podium and has learned, she told BTW -- that said podium should be able to withstand a gentle breeze, a microphone is always needed, and a critical mass of attendees -- perhaps nine -- is highly desirable.

The King's English hosts many events, Burton said, including at least two to four major authors per month. The store runs or supplies numerous book clubs, and offers offsite sales, book talks, community gatherings, and story times. "We walk a line," said Burton, "We want enough events to keep us in the paper and on people's minds, but not so many that it's hard to get publicity for them."

Events of up to 150 can be held on the store's outdoor patio, weather permitting. Otherwise, Burton listed a number of options, for authors such as Alexander McCall Smith and Lemony Snicket, including a nearby gallery and several school auditoriums.

Burton and Berman came up with the idea of The King's English when they both rented small offices in the building that now houses the store. "We each needed a private space where we could write our books," she recalled. "We'd spend most of our time thinking of reasons not to write -- we'd sit around and wish there was a bookstore with comfortable chairs in every room, a place to drink coffee and talk about books."

With characteristic humor, Burton described how the two planned to write their books in the store's back room, and to come to the front only when the doorbell tinkled.

They rented another part of the building for the bookstore, and read Bowker's Books in Print from cover to cover, carefully selecting their inventory. Despite the city's ubiquitous Mormon influence, the new King's English did not have any of the requisite "church books," or a religious section of any kind. It also served coffee and tea, a tacit declaration that the Mormon prohibition of caffeine was not upheld.

"I was stupid and shortsighted," Burton said bluntly. "I was just as prejudiced as anyone. Growing up [in Salt Lake City] as a non-Mormon, I faced a lot of prejudice, and wanted to get away." It was through bookselling, Burton asserted, that she matured and began to see people in a new light. "When you are talking to people about books, you are on a plane above all the differences. My goal is to match people with a book; everyone is welcome." Now, she said, The King's English is a true community bookstore.

In 1981, Berman left the business, and Burton ran the store alone for about seven years. In 1987, Hoagland became a partner. The two purchased the building and gradually took over different parts of it, including an adjoining gas station, "as the time seemed right," Burton said. An Italian restaurant occupies part of the second floor and adjoins The King's English's mystery section, "so people can browse while they're waiting for a table," said Burton.

An early adopter of Book Sense and BookSense.com, Burton is adamant about the benefits of the programs. "ABA has kept independent bookstores alive when our very existence was questioned," she told BTW. "Through Book Sense, we've had renewed visibility with publishers and they see how important we are."

Demonstrating to communities the importance of independent businesses has been a primary objective of the Local First Utah organization, which Burton helped spearhead. The organization now has 1,300 members. Burton described how the initial group, The Salt Lake Vest Pocket Business Alliance, began with six members and little clout. Now the city's mayor and half the city council are supportive, convinced, in part, by studies about the increased economic advantage of keeping business local.

At appearances at bookstores around the country to promote her book, Burton said that she was struck by "how many really good stores there are, and how central a part of the community a bookstore is." She emphasized that every bookseller should be involved in the local first movement. "As passionately as I believe in it," she said, "it is really good for business." --Nomi Schwartz