The story of SLC’s Weller Book Works after 95 years of business

SALT LAKE CITY — A legendary book store in Salt Lake City celebrated 95 years of business Friday. More than business though, Weller Book Works is really celebrating a history that could fill a book of its own.

According to the store, in 1929, the store’s founder, Gus Weller, intended to sell second-hand furniture and other goods he purchased, including books. He decided selling just books would be better than selling furniture or radios, and the bookstore began, known then as Zions Bookstore.

After years of running the business and starting a family of 13 in the process, Weller purchased land and gave the bookstore’s duties to his two oldest sons, John and Sam Weller.

Sam Weller was drafted into military service in 1943 in WWII when he was 21. He served as a private and military police, tending to prisoners, the store said. When he returned in 1946, he aimed to study musical theater through the GI Bill. Instead, his father pleaded for him to run the bookstore — an ask Sam Weller was not exactly happy with at the time, the store said.

However, he ultimately became convinced. The store describes him as a “charismatic and hardworking” man, and he was able to pull the store out of debt within a few years under his leadership.

He met his future wife, Lila Nelson, in 1949, who worked at the Deseret News. She worked at the store starting in 1950 and later she took over the bookkeeping and finance. They were married in 1953.

The two of them worked with a staff of employees and built the establishment up together in the post-war economy.

In 1969, the store’s name changed to Sam Wellers Zion Bookstore.

Sam Weller’s son, Tony Weller, would eventually join the staff with his parents along with his own wife, Catherine Weller. In 1992, Sam Weller began a bought of medical struggles and lost his sight in 1997, forcing him to retire, along with his wife Lila Weller who cared for him.

It was a new world Tony and Catherine Weller ran the store in, and luckily Sam Weller still had time left after his retirement to serve as a resource to them and a joy to his community.

“Between 1997 and today, booksellers have had to re-learn much of what we thought we knew. The balance of influence in publishing and retail has shifted and methods of selling changed even before the advent of the digital book,” the store said.

In 1994, Tony and Catherine Weller welcomed their firstborn daughter, Lila Ann Weller. The two would champion the bookstore and continue to run it during Sam Weller’s final years. Sam Weller died in 2009.

However, his wife Lila Weller was able to see the store move into its fifth and final location where it stands now in Historic Trolley Square in 2012. At that time, the store underwent another name change to which it’s now known — Weller Book Works. Lila Weller died in 2021 at the age of 106.

“Our location in Trolley Square is full of the mystery and surprise that accompanies good novels, as well as the knowledge and illumination that is gained from a solid work of non-fiction,” the store said. “We are in love with the physical book, in awe of the printed word and welcome people of the book no matter what you read.”

The store held an event sale and curated a “selfie station” for customers to “share their favorite books with the world,” as well as curated some unique finds in the rare books section of the store for customers to view.