SALT LAKE CITY — A legendary bookstore in Salt Lake City celebrated its 95th anniversary on Friday. But more than that: Weller Book Works is celebrating a story that could fill a book of its own.
According to the store, in 1929, the store’s founder, Gus Weller, wanted to sell used furniture and other goods he had purchased, including books. He decided that selling books alone would be better than selling furniture or radios, and so the bookstore, then known as Zions Bookstore, was created.
After running the business for years and raising a family of 13, Weller purchased a property and turned the bookstore over to his two eldest sons, John and Sam Weller.
Sam Weller was drafted into military service in World War II in 1943 when he was 21 years old. He served as a private and in the military police and cared for prisoners, according to the store. When he returned in 1946, he wanted to study musical theater with the help of the GI Bill. Instead, his father asked him to manage the bookstore – a request that Sam Weller was not particularly happy with at the time, according to the store.
But he was ultimately persuaded. The store describes him as a “charismatic and hardworking” man and under his leadership he managed to get the store out of debt within a few years.
He met his future wife, Lila Nelson, in 1949 when she worked at the Deseret News. She worked in the store from 1950 and later took over the accounting and finances. They married in 1953.
Together with a team of employees, the two built up the company in the post-war economy.
In 1969, the name of the store was changed to “Sam Weller’s Zion Bookstore.”
Sam Weller’s son Tony Weller eventually joined the team led by his parents and wife Catherine Weller. In 1992, Sam Weller began having health problems and lost his sight in 1997, forcing him and his wife Lila Weller, who cared for him, to retire.
Tony and Catherine Weller ran the store in a new world, and fortunately, after his retirement, Sam Weller still had time to be a resource to them and a joy to his community.
“Between 1997 and today, booksellers have had to relearn much of what we thought we knew. The balance of influence between publishers and retailers has shifted, and selling methods have changed even before the advent of the digital book,” the store said.
In 1994, Tony and Catherine Weller had their first-born daughter, Lila Ann Weller. The two continued to run the bookstore and operated it during Sam Weller’s final years. Sam Weller died in 2009.
However, his wife Lila Weller lived to see the store move to its fifth and final location in 2012, where it now stands in Historic Trolley Square. At that time, the store underwent another name change, by which it is known today – Weller Book Works. Lila Weller died in 2021 at the age of 106.
“Our Trolley Square location is full of the mysteries and surprises that accompany good fiction, as well as the knowledge and enlightenment that comes from a solid nonfiction book,” the store said. “We love the physical book, have reverence for the printed word, and welcome people with books, no matter what you read.”
The store held a special sale and set up a “selfie station” where customers could “share their favorite books with the world.” It also had some unique finds in the store’s rare book section for customers to view.
