SALT LAKE CITY — Many people say Ken Sanders Rare Books is a staple in Salt Lake City.
Lately, they have been fighting to stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the shop closed to the public, they are now offering services like curbside pick up, free shipping, online orders, phone orders, free books on the book wall and free delivery for those living in the Salt Lake Valley.
Amber Bridges is an employee a the shop who came up with the idea of free book delivery service.
"My goal was kind of making it as fun as ordering a pizza, and that's kind of the feedback we’ve gotten," she said.
Now especially, people have the time to read books that they wish they had time for in the past. In times like these, book stores tend to be few and far between. Many people don't want this pandemic to take away those still standing strong.
"I just got one book and it wasn’t that expensive, but if everyone could get one book, that could do some much. I hope book stores in general stay around. I hope it' not another 'Blockbuster' situation, you know, where it becomes obsolete," said university student Chris Newman who purchased a book for delivery.
Creative incentives to keep people buying books may be helping sales for the time being, but Sanders says nothing compares to when the book store door is open.
“Sales for March were 50 percent off, and I strongly anticipate sales fro April will be 75 percent down... I can’t run a business if I can’t sell books," Sanders said.
The free book wall is open to the public during store hours, but they do ask that there be only two browsers at a time.
To purchase books for curbside pick up or delivery, click here.
