The King's English Bookshop

01 / The visit

What it felt like

The King’s English Bookshop is a bookshop in a house, and it behaves like one. It sits in a Salt Lake City neighbourhood with a front door rather than an entrance, and once you are inside it keeps going, room after room, every wall shelved and every corner turned into a display. One of our reviewers said it was like visiting an old cottage in the woods that turns out to be bigger on the inside. Another put it more simply: if a hobbit or a wizard had a bookstore, it would look like this.

Eighty-four out of a hundred. Outstanding. Four reviewers, twenty criteria each, and totals from 74 to 95. They agreed about the books and split over the rest, and the split is worth reading before the number.

Selection and Curation scores 22.25 out of 25, and breadth is the headline: all four reviewers gave the inventory a perfect five. The shop has used every inch to display its collection, as one reviewer put it, and the displays do real work. There are holiday and themed set-ups, staff picks that scored 4.75, and recommendation tags and book summaries wherever you look, so you are never more than a shelf away from a suggestion. Local authors get proper space, including, one reviewer noticed, the debut novel of a former employee. The children’s section is big enough that one reviewer could have spent hours in it alone. The one criterion that lagged was unique or rare finds, at 3.5, and that is a fair description of the shop rather than a complaint: it is a place for well-chosen new books, not a treasure hunt.

The surprise, for more than one reviewer, was everything between the books: puzzles, games, crafts, decor, and tea towels and notebooks that would suit a cozy home. One reviewer nearly bought a card game and several books. Another left with a pair of socks and a bookmark and a wish for a bottomless supply of money and space.

Atmosphere and Design comes in at 21.75. Architectural interest, photography potential and overall comfort all scored 4.75, and the building is the reason for all three. It is an old house, cozy and packed with as many books as will fit through the door, and it asks you to slow down; one reviewer felt it was a place that wanted them to take their time and appreciate everything it had to offer. Art is displayed throughout the store, which one reviewer listed as the surprise of the visit. It is small enough that you will brush shoulders with somebody in the narrow bits, and the verdict on that was that the somebody is a book person, so it is never uncomfortable. Reading spaces and music and ambiance both scored 3.75, the honest costs of a house this full: there are places to sit, but not many, and the one reviewer who named a change that would improve the visit asked for more of them.

Community Connection matches Selection at 22.25, and this is where The King’s English shows what a neighbourhood bookshop is for. There is a wall given over to local events and services, posters for community outreach programmes, and a partnership with Brain Food Books that puts books in the hands of people without regular access to them. Local partnerships scored 4.75, and so did staff expertise and passion. The patio at the back hosts author meet-and-greets, the events calendar scored 4.25, and there are little restaurants and cafes around the shop, so it sits inside an afternoon rather than having to be the whole of one. As one reviewer put it, this is a place that welcomes everyone, and everyone is cared for.

Practical Considerations is the low category at 17.75, and it is worth reading before you go rather than after. Hours scored a perfect five from everyone. Accessibility scored 2.75, and the house is the reason: aisles narrow in places, a few areas are reached only by stairs, and a wheelchair or a stroller will struggle. One reviewer called the lack of ADA accommodation the only drawback of the visit. Three of the four scored amenities at a one or a two, which tells you not to expect a cafe or a place to open a laptop; the fourth gave it a five and was plainly counting the little restaurants and cafes around the shop, which is the better way to think about it. Parking is mostly on the street and gets tight when the shop is busy, though it is on a bus route. Family accommodations scored 3.75, and both halves of that number are true: the children’s section is wide open, with tables where kids can sit and read, and the stairs are still the stairs.

The reviewers’ totals ran from 74 to 95, a spread of 21 points. Amenities went 2, 1, 5 and 1. Cultural significance went 4, 2, 5 and 5, and neighbourhood integration 5, 3, 5 and 5. One reviewer scored the shop as a very good local bookshop, two scored it as an institution, and the fourth sat between them. The scores show all of that rather than splitting the difference.

Go if you like a bookshop with rooms to get lost in, a children’s section that will keep a child happy for an afternoon, and shelves that tell you what to read next; go with time in hand, because our reviewers’ advice was to take it slowly. Go elsewhere if you need step-free access to every room, if you are pushing a stroller or a wheelchair, or if your idea of a bookshop afternoon includes a cafe table and a laptop.

Eighty-four puts The King’s English fourth among the nine places we have scored, from four people who agreed on the thing that matters. This is a house that has been filled with books on purpose, and the only way to see it properly is slowly.