Yesterday’s books are today’s hot bargains
Gene Needham and his family have been around Logan for a long time. He has lived here for all of his 70 years, his family on the same block for more than 130 years. He has three master’s degrees, in art, history and English, and he has attended over 800 credit hours of school. He speaks nine languages: German, French, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Russian. He is currently working on one of many sculptures featured around his home. He owns four or five businesses, including Historic Landing, S.E. Needham Jewelers, an art supply store and Books of Yesterday.
Books of Yesterday is a used bookstore and movie rental shop that opened in 1975 as the Booktable. It was renamed Books of Yesterday in 1989. The store buys and sells used books and has movies available to rent. Needham said he opened it because he loves books. He already owned about 10,000 used books before the store opened. In the basement there are stacks upon stacks of books of all sorts of titles and genres. Thousands upon thousands of books ranging from sports to sociology, ecology and foreign language to medicine. With so many books and more than 100 different categories, anyone can find what they are looking for. Forty percent of the collection is fiction, Needham estimated.
Needham loves books, but said, “It is not a good career choice. I’m there because I like it. It’s a fun thing.” He said the most revenue comes from selling the books, although books aren’t the only thing sold there. They also have an estimated 40,000 VHS, DVD and Blu-Rays. Rentals are only $1 for a week, compared to some local competitor’s prices of $1 a night. The movie options span a variety of genres, including Disney, comedies and even a plethora of edited DVDs.
To rent movies, customers need to set up an account, which requires a driver’s license or state ID and a credit or debit card.
With upwards of 400,000 books, it isn’t hard to find something to enjoy. All paperbacks in the store are buy four, get one free and romance books are 10 for $10.
Many bookstores struggle to stay open. In fact, Books of Yesterday has bought out a few bookstores in Salt Lake that have gone under. The results of these large loads have built up the Books of Yesterday inventory immensely. One particularly large load took months to move.
Located on 87 N. Main Street, the building was originally a ZCMI store. The first sight as you walk in and look to the left are the rows and rows of books and movies. In the heart of the shelves is the desk to checkout and get information. Needham spends much of his time working at the store. He also has two ladies working there full time. The employees can answer any questions and help set up accounts.
If you look to the right there is a sign: “Thousands of Books Downstairs.” The sign does not lie. Needham said on average they buy 2-4 boxes of books from people every day, and the inventory of the store just keeps growing.
Aubrey Olsen, a freshman, said she loves going to the bookstore. She said, “You can always find what you are looking for because they have everything there. When you’re a poor college student and you can get books and movies for only that much, I’d say it’s a freaking good deal!”
Books of Yesterday has many books that could be helpful with classes, like language, science, ecology and an assortment of encyclopedias.
– tori_hepworth@yahoo.com