If you’ve heard that Seagull Book is closing and want a straight answer — yes, it’s true. In April 2025, Deseret Book announced that the Seagull Book brand and all its stores will be phased out by the end of 2025.
This article covers who made the decision and why, what the timeline looks like, which related brands survive, and where LDS customers and authors can turn once the stores are gone.
Seagull Book Is Closing — Here’s the Short Version
Deseret Book, which has owned Seagull Book since 2006, made the announcement in April 2025. All Seagull Book retail stores and the company’s warehouse in American Fork, Utah will close by the end of 2025.
Through 2025, the stores remain open and operating. Customers can still walk in and shop as normal during this transition period. But once 2025 ends, the Seagull Book brand is gone permanently.
This is not a pause, a rebranding, or a temporary closure. Deseret Book president Laurel Day described it as an “incredibly difficult decision” — language that makes clear this is final.
Why Deseret Book Made This Call
The reasons come directly from Deseret Book’s official statements, and they’re not surprising if you’ve been watching retail trends over the past decade.
First, customer behavior shifted significantly. Fewer people are buying physical LDS books, music, and media than they used to. That’s a long-term trend, not a sudden drop.
Second, free content available online has reduced demand for paid products. When faith-based talks, lessons, and music are readily available at no cost, it’s harder to sell the physical versions at a price that keeps the lights on.
Third, rising labor and materials costs put pressure on a business model built around discount pricing. Seagull Book was positioned as the lower-cost option in the LDS retail market. That model became harder to sustain as operating costs went up.
Finally, the business needed meaningful investments in technology and data infrastructure — the kind of investment that simply didn’t fit the financial reality of the Seagull model. Laurel Day noted this came after multi-year analysis, so the decision was not rushed.
What Closes, What Continues, and What Gets Absorbed
There’s some understandable confusion about exactly what this announcement means. Here’s a clear breakdown.
What closes
- All Seagull Book retail store locations
- The American Fork, Utah warehouse
- The Sweet Salt modest clothing line, which will be dissolved in the same timeframe
What continues
- Deseret Book’s own retail stores remain fully operational
- The Deseret Book website (DeseretBook.com) continues as a purchasing option
What gets absorbed
Covenant Communications — the LDS publisher long associated with Seagull Book — is not shutting down. It will continue as a brand housed within Deseret Book, and the company has confirmed it will keep investing in Covenant publishing going forward.
The key takeaway here: the Seagull Book name and storefronts disappear. But much of the content those stores carried does not disappear with them.
What This Means for LDS Customers Right Now and After 2025
The impact depends on when you’re reading this and where you live.
Through 2025
Seagull Book stores are still open. You can shop as usual. It’s worth watching for transition-period sales and promotions — closures like this often come with clearance events as inventory gets worked down. No specific store-by-store closing dates have been confirmed, so check with your local store directly.
After 2025
The physical Seagull Book storefront will be gone. For many communities in Utah, Idaho, Arizona, and Nevada, Seagull Book was the local go-to for LDS books, gifts, art, and media. That convenience goes away.
Here’s where customers can turn after 2025:
- Deseret Book retail stores and DeseretBook.com — The most direct replacement for the content Seagull carried. Deseret Book continues to operate stores and its online shop.
- LDSBookstore.com — Highlighted as one of the few remaining privately owned LDS bookstores following Seagull’s closure. Worth bookmarking if you prefer shopping outside the Deseret Book umbrella.
- Independent LDS bookstores — Some locally owned shops still exist, though they are becoming rarer.
- General online retailers — Large e-commerce platforms carry many Latter-day Saint titles, especially for readers who just need the book and don’t need a specialty retail experience.
The geographic loss is real. For families in smaller Utah and Idaho communities where Seagull Book was a neighborhood fixture, the nearest Deseret Book location may require a longer drive. Online ordering will likely fill most of that gap, but it’s a different experience than walking into a local store.
What LDS Authors and Content Creators Face After Seagull Closes
For authors whose books appeared regularly on Seagull Book shelves, this closure removes a meaningful retail channel. That’s a practical problem worth thinking through now rather than later.
Authors published through Covenant Communications have some protection — Covenant continues under the Deseret Book umbrella with stated ongoing investment. If your titles are in that catalog, they’re likely to stay in circulation through Deseret Book’s retail and online channels.
But the broader reality is that LDS authors now have fewer physical retail options. Shelf space and foot traffic at Seagull Book drove discovery for a lot of titles. That kind of organic browsing doesn’t transfer automatically to online shopping.
Authors who relied on Seagull Book for visibility should think about a few practical adjustments:
- Prioritize placement with Deseret Book — It’s now the dominant physical retail channel for LDS content in the western U.S.
- Build direct online visibility — Social media, author newsletters, and community engagement with LDS readers online matter more when physical storefronts shrink.
- Explore independent options — LDSBookstore.com and other remaining independents are smaller, but they serve a loyal customer base that actively seeks out LDS titles.
This is a situation similar to what Christian authors faced when regional Christian bookstore chains consolidated or closed over the past decade. The market didn’t disappear — it shifted online and concentrated around fewer retail players. The same pattern is playing out here.
The Bigger Picture: What This Tells You About Religious Retail Right Now
Seagull Book’s closure isn’t an isolated event. It reflects changes happening across specialty retail, especially in the religious and Christian bookstore space.
Physical bookstores built around niche communities face a specific challenge: the community they serve has access to enormous amounts of free content online, and the cost of running a brick-and-mortar store has only gone up. That combination is difficult to sustain even when the store is genuinely valued by its customers.
Deseret Book’s move — consolidating under one brand, investing in Covenant publishing, stepping back from the discount-oriented Seagull model — is a rational response to that environment. It’s not a sign that LDS publishing or LDS retail is disappearing. It’s a sign that the market is consolidating around fewer, stronger players with better digital infrastructure.
For a closer look at how retail consolidation affects small business owners and entrepreneurs in niche markets, Drafted Business covers those dynamics in practical terms worth reading.
Final Takeaway
Seagull Book is going out of business as a retail chain. All stores and the American Fork warehouse close by the end of 2025. The Sweet Salt clothing line dissolves in the same period.
Deseret Book is not closing. Covenant Communications is not shutting down — it moves into the Deseret Book structure with continued investment.
If you’re a customer, you still have time to shop at Seagull Book through 2025. After that, Deseret Book, LDSBookstore.com, and online retailers are your primary alternatives.
If you’re an author or content creator in the LDS space, the window to adapt is now — not after the stores close. Fewer physical retail channels means your online presence and your relationship with remaining retailers matter more than they did a year ago.
The Seagull Book brand is ending. The market it served is not.
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