Hannah Kidd’s lifelong dream just came true.
Again.
Kidd confesses that she’s had a “huge” love affair with books all her life.
“I love books,” she said. “And it’s always been my dream to own a bookstore. It’s a corny line, but it’s true.”
And now? She owns two.
With the recent opening of A Novel Idea Book Parlor at 470 E. 24th St., in Ogden, Kidd now operates not one, but two used bookstores.
Kidd and her husband, Colton, opened their first A Novel Idea Book Parlor in January 2018, in Harrisville. That spring, they relocated the used-book business to 2465 N. Main St., Suite 15, in Sunset. The store has been there ever since.
“It sounded like a bad thing, moving — change is always scary — but it ended up awesome news,” Kidd said. “We went from 500 or 600 square feet to 4,000 square feet.”
The additional square footage allowed Kidd to expand beyond books, adding DVDs and vinyl records.
And business has been good. So good, the Kidds felt the need to open a second location.
“Even though we have such a large space (in Sunset), there are still so many books out there in the world that we don’t have the space for,” she lamented. “And more space enables more people to get more books.”
The Ogden location is much smaller — 1,500 square feet, or about a third of the size of the Sunset store, but Kidd says she likes the location.
“We’ve got about 20,000 books in Sunset, so the Ogden location has about a third of that — something like 6,000 to 10,000 books,” she said.
Although the Ogden store is now open, Kidd said they’re planning a grand opening event for April 27. Hours for both bookstores are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Kidd says books are priced individually, with most falling in the $1 to $5 range. Early readers, the floppy books and picture books, are $1 unless otherwise marked.
The most popular genres at the Sunset location are children’s books and young adult fiction, according to Kidd.
“We’re by lots of schools, and by the Air Force base,” she said. “And there are just lots of families in Utah.”
Kidd said what really sets her bookstore apart is that they try to stay competitive with thrift-store prices, but they also keep titles easy to find.
“We do have newer books, desirable titles you can get affordably so you don’t have to pay full price,” she said.
Kidd’s husband is an entrepreneur as well. He’s the owner of Minifigure America, formerly BAM! Bricks & More Toy Store, in Sunset.
Kidd says she had no fear in opening a second brick-and-mortar bookstore in an age when people insist digital books are taking over and physical books are going extinct.
“I’ve had a couple of career changes — first as a ballet dancer, then I became a mom,” Kidd said. “And books are always there, always awesome. People say it’s, like, a dying thing, and that they’ll all go digital, but I disagree. I think real books are always going to be there.”
For more information, visit anovelideabookparlor.com or call 801-918-3972.