When Sam Weller's Bookstore, Salt Lake City, Utah, moves at the end of the year to a new site in Trolley Square, the iconic store, founded in 1929, will be renamed Weller Book Works and feature a new logo and look. Originally called the Zion Bookstore, the store has had several names and five locations.
Tony Weller, the third generation of Wellers to own the store, explained the changes: "Sam Weller was a gregarious, energetic bookman whose reputation was known across the country. He was a powerful man and a dedicated father who had a giant influence in my life. But his energy hasn't been strongly felt in the store since he lost his eyesight in 1997. Sam passed away in 2009. For all our love and respect for the bookstore we have been on Main Street, we felt that this store designed and built by Catherine [Tony's wife and manager of retail operations], our team, and me wouldn't be, and simply couldn't be called Sam's anymore."
Catherine Weller added: "We settled on 'Works' rather than store because it is an active word and we're active booksellers. Works has good connotations. This works. Books work (without batteries and for hundreds of years). It works for me. We work with you. We like the industrial association and think it fits nicely into the old trolley garages into which our new store is being built."
The new location has about 10,000 square feet of space, about the same as the main level and mezzanine of the current store, which also has a large basement. Referring to the retail vacancies, longtime construction projects and inadequate parking around the current store, Tony Weller said, "One might say we have traded our basement for free parking and retail neighbors."
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Weller Book Works will have "a coffee shop and eatery." The paper described Trolley Square as a "venerable, recently remade shopping center. The [store's] site was formerly occupied by theaters--and before that was a garage for the city's street car fleet." The store is next to "a spacious atrium, which can be used for large gatherings when authors speak or for book signings." The space itself is "spacious and filled with light," the Tribune said.
The current store closes on Christmas Eve, and the new store opens January 6. The Wellers are seeking volunteers to help them move.
