Wednesday, December 28, 2011

December 28th Moving Update

Moving began yesterday with crews of employees, volunteers, and movers packing up books on Main Street, and a crew of employees and volunteers setting up bookcases at Trolley Square. Here's a peek at the progress so far.

Book on carts waiting to be taken to Trolley Square.

We've already cleared out a large portion of the main floor!

View from the top of the stairs at trolley.

From the landing at Trolley. Just a few more bookcases to go!

We still need volunteers! Join us in our move by calling 801-328-2588 and talking to Jason.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Polaroid Pictures

While cleaning the office here at Sam Weller's Books in preparation for our move to Trolley Square we found a Polaroid camera and some film (best used by March 2004).


I love Polaroids. Birthday money supplemented with chore money bought my first camera, a Polaroid. It looked almost exactly like this one, except that it was a sporty red color. So I was immediately excited to start snapping photos.

Of course with film that expired seven years and nine months ago, there was no telling how they would turn out. They turned out interesting.

 Catherine is channeling the moving stress of all the staff.

 Tony and Joan are preparing the Rare Book Room.

 Getting things done.

 Frank staffing the side counter.

Hollis is holding down the fort in the office.

 Jason is organizing the volunteer schedule.
If you would like to volunteer, contact him at the store. 
801-328-2586 or jasonrabb@samwellers.com

Elizabeth is the returns queen.

 Our friends in the Coffee Garden on Main.

 Debra staffing the main floor info desk.

Stephanie is packing the office.

I don't know what caused portions not to develop. Perhaps the developing fluid had dried out. I have one cartridge (10 photos!) left. I'll use them in the move and post them in a future blog.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Worlds Collide in an Awesome Way

We recently received a shipment of awesome at the bookstore. Limited edition Star Wars moleskine journals. As you can see, they come in both Republic and Empire designs, or Light Side and Dark Side of the Force, if you will.



We also received some limited edition Pac-man moleskine planners.


Come in for your dose of awesome today!


Thursday, December 1, 2011

New name for a new space

Catherine and I are the third generation of Wellers to serve the community's interests by selling books. My grandfather, Gustav, opened the original store at the onset of the Great Depression. It was then called Zion Bookstore. My father, Sam, took over in 1946. Sam and my mother, Lila, moved the bookstore to 254 S. Main Street in 1961. In the 1970s the name became Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore. By the 1980s we simply went by Sam Wellers.

I have worked in the family bookstore since childhood. Main Street was a vibrant place throughout my youth but beginning in the 1980's it began to decline as a shopping district due to the proliferation of new suburban malls, increasing parking costs and some poor development decisions. Sales weakened for independent booksellers in the late 1980s and the 1990s as stock funded corporate booksellers fought for dominance. A bit later the internet and ebooks gave users new ways to get information once found only in books. Today all the foregoing is exacerbated by our troubled economy.

We value the long heritage of our bookstore. 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 bookstore 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 our new store -- designed and built by Catherine, our team and me -- wouldn't be, and simply couldn't be called Sam's anymore.

When we open our store in Trolley Square on January 6th, it will be known as Weller Book Works. For months we pondered how to preserve the family name while embracing a new identity that reflects our new location, our new style of bookselling, and our changed culture. We settled on "Works" because it is an active term and we're active booksellers. I've often said we're the proletariats of the book world. Works has good connotations. This works. Books work (without batteries and for hundreds of years). It works for me. We work for you. We like the industrial association and think it fits nicely into the old trolley garages into which Trolley Square has been built.

We're excited about our new name and logo. We're also excited about the new web site that will follow shortly. We hope you'll enjoy the bookstore that makes them meaningful.