SALT LAKE CITY — From her fifth-floor downtown office, Sheri Dew
concedes that while she loves to read a good book — one in which she
can turn pages and hold in her hands — she also reads from a Kindle.
The
president and chief executive officer of Deseret Book Co. said the
company is "aggressively" making books available on Kindle, a digital
book reader sold by Amazon.com, and will soon have content ready for the nook, the Barnes & Noble e-reader, and the iPad by Apple.
"The
actual physical book business isn't going to go away anytime soon," she
told the Deseret News Tuesday. "But the physical book business, by and
large, is not a growth business."
Deseret
Book is selling new products, in addition to digital books, and
executives note that they are in the retail business in addition to the
publishing business.
Its new
14,000-square-foot flagship store at 45 W. South Temple, which opens
Thursday afternoon for business, features music, fine art, DVDs, sheet
music and regional crafts.
The store
has limited-edition leatherbound classics, a 32-foot video wall,
old-fashioned candies, art, a Lion House Pantry Express that will sell
"grab 'n' go" food, custom framing and even an on-site "art concierge"
who will assist potential buyers with art acquisitions.
"One
of the things about retail is that it needs to be an experience," said
Mark H. Willes, president and chief executive officer of Deseret
Management Corp. (which also owns the Deseret News), the parent company
of Deseret Book.
"Anyone can go
online and buy a book, a CD, a DVD," Willes said. "The question is, why
would you come into the store? You may think you'll go into Deseret
Book to buy Fablehaven 5 (published by Deseret Book imprint Shadow
Mountain). But whenever you do that, you tend to browse. You're going
to see things in this store you can't find anywhere else, including
online."
The mission of Deseret Book
is to provide books for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, although not all its books are religious and not all
its customers are LDS.
The store
will be open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., with a
grand opening planned April 2-10 that will feature author signings and
product giveaways. Customers can access underground parking on South
Temple, west of the store.Deseret Book timeline:1886: George Q. Cannon & Sons, the forerunner of Deseret Book,
opens for business at 44 E. South Temple. Its first product is the
Juvenile Instructor magazine.1898: Store relocates to 13 S. Main.1900: George Q. Cannon & Sons sells its publishing and bookselling
business to the Deseret News, and the Juvenile Instructor was taken
over by the Deseret Sunday School Union.1919: The Deseret News and Deseret Sunday School Union bookstores
consolidate, resulting in the formation of the Deseret Book Co.
1932: Deseret Book Co. incorporates as a Utah corporation and becomes a tax-paying, profit-oriented business.
1959: First branch store opens on Washington Boulevard in Ogden.
1976: Grand opening of the new Deseret Book store at 44 E. South Temple (as part of the ZCMI Center).
1990: Downtown Salt Lake store moves inside the ZCMI Center Mall.
2007: Deseret Book corporate offices relocate to newly refurbished building at 57 W. South Temple.
2010: New Deseret Book flagship store opens at 45 W. South Temple.
E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com