bookstore founded american fork utah united states 1987 1987 founder v. lewis kofford headquarters salt lake city utah united states number of locations 25 november 2013 1 area served utah idaho arizona and nevada 2 formerly in dallas texas 3 key people lewis kofford 1987 2006 greg kofford 1990 92 kim kofford 1997 2002 jon kofford 2003 2006 susan condie current 4 products discount books media art and other products for latter day saints owner lewis kofford 1987 2006 number of employees 200 300 2006 5 parent deseret book company deseret management corporation 1 website seagullbook.com seagull book formerly called seagull book & tape is an american retail chain bookstore focusing on products for members of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints lds church with over two dozen stores in utah idaho arizona and nevada . 2 it was the second largest lds bookstore until being acquired in 2006 by market leader deseret book and since then seagull has continued to operate as a discount chain distinct from deseret book branded retail stores . contents 1 history 1.1 founding 1.2 growth 1.3 deseret book conflict 1.4 acquisition 2 company name 3 notes 4 external links history edit founding edit seagull book & tape was founded in 1987 by v. lewis kofford the owner of lds publisher covenant communications . 6 he had organized covenant in 1984 7 which absorbed covenant recordings an lds audio tape producer which kofford had owned since 1977 . 8 he intended seagull to be a distribution channel for covenant and other independent lds publishers 9 and to fill a discount retail niche in the lds market by keeping low overhead and purchasing in volume . 10 headquartered in american fork utah 9 11 12 13 the bookstore was initially a division of covenant communications 14 and later its sister company . 9 seagull sold books audio tapes cds videos and computer software . 10 some of its locations even bought and sold used and rare lds books . 15 16 17 in addition the chain also sold traditional titles such as self improvement fiction children s books cartoons and videos . 18 though deseret book was the largest lds retailer it was also the largest lds publisher and so from its beginning seagull sold deseret book products as a significant portion of its offerings . 13 19 20 in the early 1990s lds retailers including deseret book were rapidly expanding and the market had doubled since the 1970s . 19 21 seagull grew aggressively in its first few years 10 22 and kept comparable offerings to deseret book . 12 23 24 25 26 the company was a kofford family business . 13 from 1990 to 1992 lewis brought in his son greg kofford an mit graduate and wall street investor as seagull s president and ceo . 27 28 afterward lewis kofford himself served as president and ceo . 5 along with his daughter kim kofford served as vice president merchandise and marketing from 1997 2002 . then in the 2000s jon kofford was vice president of marketing 12 and executive vice president . 29 growth edit seagull book store in orem utah 2010 seagull book s first store was a 6 000 square foot 560 m2 retail space on redwood road in salt lake city . 6 by 1990 it had grown to 8 locations . 19 after expanding to 12 stores in 1991 including into california and texas 3 revenue increased dramatically 16 22 leading to plans for further expansion . 15 by 1992 the company had nearly 4 million in annual sales 35 employees and 15 locations . 27 30 during the 1990s seagull had a cooperative advertising program with independent publisher bookcraft but when deseret book bought out bookcraft in 1999 seagull began to worry that deseret book would give preferential treatment to its own retail stores . 11 11 in that same year seagull launched seagullbook.com as an online bookstore . 31 during the 2000s seagull continued chipping away at deseret book as its main competitor . 12 32 by 2006 it operated 26 stores with between 200 and 300 employees . 5 deseret book conflict edit in july 2006 deseret book publicly disputed how its products were promoted at seagull bookstores . deseret book claimed seagull wasn t properly honoring its merchandising programs 9 33 or adequately utilizing promotional materials 29 which it requires of all its vendors . 9 deseret book announced that its wholesale division would no longer sell to seagull book 34 and it was not seeking negotiation before the decision would take effect at the end of the month . 35 this announcement was a complete surprise to seagull management 35 who saw this as a deliberate attack on its presence in the lds market 20 and assumed discount prices are the reason . 35 some worried this could crush seagull s business which was understood to rely on sales from deseret book products . 20 35 36 attempting to negotiate their situation seagull book consulted with a public relations company and scheduled a press conference . within hours the conference was canceled when deseret book lifted their ban for one month to allow for talks with seagull . 9 20 29 34 as the companies explored the possibility of deseret book acquiring seagull the deadline was extended beyond august . 13 acquisition edit in december 2006 deseret book bought seagull book as well as its sister company covenant communications another major deseret book competitor . financial details were not publicly disclosed . 34 at the age of 67 lewis kofford was considering retirement and initiated the buyout discussions . 13 in recent years deseret book had acquired other major competitors including bookcraft excel entertainment group and lds living magazine . 37 this created a chain of 69 stores although they would continue as two independent coexisting companies and retain their existing stores employees and market specialties . 13 34 36 37 the retailers were already successfully filling two different niches in the lds market 20 and rather than transform into deseret book seagull would act as its discount chain . 13 seagull book has continued to operate as an independent entity to deseret book retail stores . 31 following the merger independent publisher kent larsen published his concerns saying that when deseret book has previously acquired its largest competitors such as bookcraft in 1999 the lds market shrank resulting in fewer publications and leading to downsizing . 37 company name edit seagull book & tape logo until 2006 the tape in seagull book & tape referred to the store s marketing of audio cassette tapes generally of recorded sermons and lectures of popular lds speakers . many of these products were produced by covenant recordings or covenant communications for which owner lewis kofford also founded seagull as a retail outlet . 8 9 when seagull was sold to deseret book in 2006 the store s name was shortened to seagull book . 38 by this time audio tape products had been largely replaced by compact discs cds . the seagull is a symbol in mormon culture from the miracle of the gulls where early pioneers were saved from a plague of crickets . the bird is also honored as the utah state bird and in the lds church s seagull monument in salt lake city . 39 notes edit a b deseret book . deseret management corporation . retrieved 2013 11 14 . a b store locations . seagullbook.com . seagull book . retrieved 2013 11 14 . a b seagull book acquires l.a. dallas stores . deseret news . october 9 1991 . retrieved 2010 02 19 . condie is vice president and general merchandise manager for deseret book company . seagull book catalog catalog format requires url help salt lake city utah seagull book june 2010 p. 2 a b c leong grace july 19 2006 . deseret book seagull in talks . daily herald . retrieved 2010 02 02 . a b seagull book issues statement about its relationship with deseret book . prleap.com . pr leap . july 21 2006 . retrieved 2010 02 02 . holzapfel richard neitzel 2000 . publishers and bookstores . in arnold k. garr ; donald q. cannon ; richard o. cowan . encyclopedia of latter day saint history . salt lake city deseret book . a b knudson max b. september 15 1979 . the only rock you ll find here is rock of ages . deseret news . p. s5 . retrieved 2010 02 02 . a b c d e f g nii jenifer k. july 13 2006 . deseret book severs relationship with seagull . deseret news . retrieved 2010 02 02 . a b c seagull book opens w. jordan store . deseret news . july 4 1991 . retrieved 2010 02 02 . a b c kratz gregory p. october 3 1999 . one for the books . deseret news . retrieved 2010 02 02 . a b c d anderton dave november 20 2002 . deseret book rethinks offerings . deseret news . retrieved 2010 02 02 . a b c d e f g leong grace december 28 2006 . deseret book buys seagull book & tape . daily herald . provo utah . p. a1 . retrieved 2010 02 02 . chapek stephen march 26 2003 . orem s granite publishing buys evans book of slc . daily herald . retrieved 2010 02 02 . a b seagull book sales rise 48 % . deseret news . january 22 1992 . retrieved 2010 02 02 . a b seagull book notes a sales boost of 212 % . deseret news . july 22 1992 . retrieved 2010 02 02 . seagull book & tape advertisement . journal of mormon history . 19 1 . spring 1993 . retrieved 2010 04 27 . bookstore reopens . deseret news . august 16 1991 . retrieved 2010 04 27 . a b c anderson vern august 21 1990 . lds book market swells into a 50 million a year business . deseret news . retrieved 2010 02 02 . a b c d e using public relations to fight a crisis communications battle the seagull book & tape case study . politis communications . retrieved 2010 02 02 . market for lds related books creates tough competition . deseret news . july 3 1991 . retrieved 2010 02 02 . a b seagull tape and book posts 43.2 % rise in sales . deseret news . october 31 1991 . retrieved 2010 02 02 . reed travis march 4 2004 . lds novel deemed too racy to publish . deseret news . retrieved 2010 04 27 . genessy jody august 25 2004 . church ball is a big hit . deseret morning news . retrieved 2010 04 27 . hardy rodger l. december 1 2006 . bloodline book too hot to handle . deseret news . retrieved 2010 04 27 . l. kay carman ; carol s. reich 2004 . reaching out to religious youth a guide to services programs and collections . libraries unlimited . p. 95 . isbn 0 313 32041 1 . retrieved 2010 04 27 . a b executive focus greg l. kofford president seagull book & tape . deseret news . june 14 1992 . retrieved 2010 02 02 . our team . cogent capital . archived from the original on june 20 2006 . retrieved 2010 02 02 . a b c nii jenifer k. july 20 2006 . two utah book firms discussing options . deseret news . retrieved 2010 02 16 . seagull book & tape opens layton store . deseret news . retrieved 2010 02 02 . a b about seagull book . seagullbook.com . seagull book inc. retrieved 2010 02 02 . nii jenifer k. march 1 2001 . deseret book minus books . deseret