Tony Weller

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  www.museumofchange.org/visiting.php - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 12/9/2008    Last Visited: 12/9/2008  

  by Tony Weller

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  www.peteashdown.org/journal/ - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 11/28/2007    Last Visited: 11/28/2007  

  Ralph Becker sent me his response to Tony Weller for reposting here.
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  Tony has not shared any other responses with me, nor have I asked him to.
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  Response to Letter from Tony Weller
  
  Thank you, Tony, for your letter about downtown Salt Lake City issues.
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  As you know, Tony, I share your views about local businesses.
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  Tony, I sincerely and deeply appreciate all that you and your family have done over the years, contributing hard work, sacrifice, and dedication toward helping make our City such a livable community.
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  Mayoral Questions by Tony Weller
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  Tony Weller is the current owner of downtown bookstore Sam Weller's, which has been a fixture in Salt Lake City since 1929.You can't think of Main Street business without thinking about the incredible work Tony and his family have done there.They have survived construction and watched as national competition has received subsidies to locate and relocate here.Tony is also a former president of the Downtown Merchant's Association, which I am a proud member of.
  
  Last weekend I went to buy a gift certificate from Weller's and found that all their parking has been removed at the behest of Hamilton Partners' building construction.The city even bagged the meters that weren't inexplicably removed by a walkway placed outside an existing sidewalk.All this while much of neighboring 3rd South's parking is being torn up for a beautification project.So my wife circled the block while I went in to make a purchase.The situation is so maddening that I wonder if anyone at the city building shops on Main Street anymore.
  
  Tony wrote me asking my opinion of the mayoral candidates.After reading my blog entries, he wrote up three questions of his own and sent them off.I was struck by what he said so much that I asked for permission to repost them here.They reflect a long standing frustration downtown merchants have had with city government's inability to take concrete action on Main Street.
  
  If Tony receives responses to this letter he wants to share, I will be happy to repost them.
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  Tony Weller
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  Pete Ashdown's Journal: Mayoral Questions by Tony Weller

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  peteashdown.org/journal/2007/08/28/mayoral-questions-by - [Cached Version]
  Last Visited: 11/24/2009  

  Pursuit of Liberty » Blog Archive | Pete Ashdown’s Journal » Mayoral Questions by Tony Weller Pete Ashdown's Journal > Mayoral Questions by Tony Weller
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  Mayoral Questions by Tony Weller
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  Tony Weller is the current owner of downtown bookstore Sam Weller's, which has been a fixture in Salt Lake City since 1929.
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  You can't think of Main Street business without thinking about the incredible work Tony and his family have done there. They have survived construction and watched as national competition has received subsidies to locate and relocate here. Tony is also a former president of the Downtown Merchant's Association, which I am a proud member of.
  
  Last weekend I went to buy a gift certificate from Weller's and found that all their parking has been removed at the behest of Hamilton Partners' building construction. The city even bagged the meters that weren't inexplicably removed by a walkway placed outside an existing sidewalk. All this while much of neighboring 3rd South's parking is being torn up for a beautification project. So my wife circled the block while I went in to make a purchase. The situation is so maddening that I wonder if anyone at the city building shops on Main Street anymore.
  
  Tony wrote me asking my opinion of the mayoral candidates. After reading my blog entries, he wrote up three questions of his own and sent them off. I was struck by what he said so much that I asked for permission to repost them here. They reflect a long standing frustration downtown merchants have had with city government's inability to take concrete action on Main Street.
  
  If Tony receives responses to this letter he wants to share, I will be happy to repost them.
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  Tony Weller
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  Pete Ashdown posted a letter to mayoral candidates by Tony Weller.
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  Tony expresses his concerns and asks for feedback from the candidates in order to [...]
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  I can't agree more with Mr. Weller's assessment of the parking situation on Main Street.
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  There should be a push for an anti-blight ordinance as Mr. Weller has suggested. Encourage investment in downtown, instead of maintaining the status-quo of dilapidated, empty eyesores.
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  Kudos to Tony Weller for giving a few very good ideas.
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  I look forward to reading the candidates' responses to Mr. Weller's letter!
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  Powerful words, Tony. Thank-you Pete.

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  saltlake.accrisoft.com/index.php?src=news&refno=1010&ca - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 4/29/2007    Last Visited: 2/4/2008  

  TONY WELLER OF SAM WELLER'S ZION BOOKSTORE
  
  "The doors of the world are here for me," says Tony Weller of Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore, the store his grandfather started more than 75 years ago.

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  saltlake.accrisoft.com/index.php?src=news&refno=1010&ca - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 4/29/2007    Last Visited: 11/3/2007  

  TONY WELLER OF SAM WELLER'S ZION BOOKSTORE
  
  "The doors of the world are here for me," says Tony Weller of Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore, the store his grandfather started more than 75 years ago.

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  www.friendsoftransit.org/e-mail/06_01_12a.txt - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 5/14/2006    Last Visited: 1/25/2010  

  "Don't sell," said Tony Weller, operator of Sam Weller's Zion Books in downtown Salt Lake City, a 76-year-old family business.
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  "You guys have learned a lot," commented Tony Weller, who owns a large bookstore in downtown Salt Lake City. The bad news: Stores along the light-rail route should be prepared for dramatic drops in business.

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  www.wellerracingcorporation.com/index.php/contact/Conta - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 6/2/2008    Last Visited: 6/2/2008  

  Tony Weller Company owner

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  www.news.bookweb.org/news/6969.html - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 8/5/2009    Last Visited: 12/14/2009  

  This past March, owners Tony and Catherine Weller announced plans to leave the bookstore's current 40,000-square-foot space in downtown Salt Lake City.
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  "We are having an exciting game of 29 Questions (since we were founded in 1929) about books, our bookstore, staff, and building," said Tony Weller.
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  In 1997, Sam's son, Tony Weller, took over ownership of the store.
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  After this spring's announcement of plans to relocate the bookstore, the Wellers were "inundated with sentiments" from community members who expressed their love for the bookstore, said Tony Weller. "We realized that we should have been capturing the stories and thoughts that were emerging," he said. "So we borrowed a movie camera and started The Moving History Project. It is our intention to make some edited selections available online.... Stay tuned."
  
  The Wellers are now scouting sites for a new, smaller location in downtown Salt Lake City, and while they haven't yet found one, Tony Weller has a clear vision of what the new store will be like. "It will stock new, used, and rare books but the selection will be carefully reconsidered to reflect the changes in users habits that are occurring because of digital technologies," he said. "We are discussing numerous partnerships with local businesses that are culturally symbiotic with us. I am thinking of the future store as a verb rather than a noun."
  
  About digitization of information and e-books, Weller said, "New tools may usurp certain uses of old ones but one doesn't necessarily preclude use of the other.
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  Not many businesses have lasted 80 years, and Weller doesn't pretend it has been easy. "We have our share of worries," he noted. "But I think the factors that have aided our survival are sincere love of books; moderate profit-taking by ownership; a relatively flat wage scale and benefits that have enabled us to have a stable staff; my parents investment in the property we occupy; a mixture of new, used, and rare books; stubborn determination; and hard work. -- Karen Schechner
  
  Since Sam Weller's history has been chronicled extensively, BTW asked Tony Weller for some of the lesser-known facts about the family business.

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  www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13866904 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 11/25/2009    Last Visited: 11/25/2009  

  Prompted by the bad economy and the changing nature of the bookstore business, Sam Weller's owners Tony and Catherine Weller announced in March they eventually intend to move the store from its long-time location at 254 S. Main St. to smaller, more efficient digs downtown at a location still to be determined.
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  In Sam Weller's Bookstore's latest bimonthly newsletter, Booktalk , Tony Weller wrote that the other owner of the David Keith building agreed to re-list the property in its entirety, rather than the Wellers just putting up their 50 percent interest for sale.

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  www.utahstories.com/Zion-Bookstore-Tony-Weller.html - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 12/16/2009    Last Visited: 2/13/2010  

  Tony Weller has seen Main Street closer and longer than most people around.
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  After going through all the emotions of apprehension, frustration, disdain and dismay, Tony has decided to move the iconic bookstore elsewhere. "We will for sure continue to remain in downtown Salt Lake City," he says. Plans to make the move are underway and according to Tony, they are in the process of finalizing the new location.
  
  Tony Weller "The largest locally owned bookstore in Salt Lake City is alone here. -Tony Weller
  
  Tony took over the bookstore from his parents Sam and Lila who operated the store after Gustav and Margaret -- East German immigrants -- started the Zion's bookstore in 1929.
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  "I am a casual student of local economics," says Tony, who is a strong advocate of the local enterprise. "Economic growth comes from investing in regular working people, not wealthy organizations that only increase the disparity between the rich and the poor," he adds. Having seen Main Street change its character over the years, Tony feels strongly about the demise or departure of small businesses that have made way for large national and international retail chains. "The largest locally owned bookstore in Salt Lake City is alone here," says Tony. "Online bookstores and declining literacy has cost us heavily," he says adding that the bookstore makes less profit than what it made several years ago. He compares the incursion of computers into the book industry to that of cameras into the world of painting. "Art has endured technology but has changed," he surmises. Tony's perceptions have been honed by his understanding of the pre-computer period and adapting it into his present business model.
  
  To fight the new age problems, the bookstore at the new (yet to be decided) location promises to offer a unique experience to its customers. Without giving much away Tony mentioned that the bookstore will house a consortium of small businesses offering many services.
  
  Tony Weller
  
  "We want to evolve from a noun to a verb," says Tony with obvious excitement. Tony has said that besides the Coffee Garden the new store will operate as an art community market and gathering place for readings and poetry.

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