It’s quaint and cozy inside 1974 Bookstore. The natural light makes the exposed brick, tables and shelves spring to life. There are two paintings on the back wall, of Victorian-era women engrossed in their latest reads.
One painting, of a woman draped across a green couch, hangs above a comfy green couch.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Books sit on shelves inside 1974 Bookstore SLC in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026.
From that couch, you can see out the front windows of the store and into Pioneer Park.
“I always told myself that if I ever wanted to go ahead and open up a store, I wanted to root it downtown and in this area to revitalize [it],” Annie Pagett, the bookstore’s owner, said, gesturing out the window at the neighborhood she wants to help revitalize.
After all, the neighborhood revitalized her once.
1974 Bookstore
Where: 351 W. 400 South Unit B
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Paying back Pioneer Park
Pagett runs the store alongside her two daughters, Beverly and Callista. All three of them are avid readers — a habit Pagett instilled in them from a young age and one she’s had her entire life.
They also all share a love for the Pioneer Park neighborhood that helped keep them in the Beehive State decades earlier. When the family first moved to Daybreak in 2004, the daughters experienced bullying at school that made the family consider leaving.
Instead, they moved to its capital city for a fresh start and discovered serenity.
“It was a game changer … it gave me the opportunity to explore [and] fall in love with Salt Lake,” Pagett said.
Pagett remembers indulging in the muffaletta and “The Original” from Caputo’s and finding solace in the sweet treats at Carlucci’s Bakery.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) A hat for sale sits on a table inside 1974 Bookstore SLC in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026.
Walks to The Gateway and sets from the Twilight Concert shows at Pioneer Park flicker in her memories. These businesses and the park helped her family find a home.
“It just meant so much to us,” Pagett said.
Pagett briefly moved to Florida from 2021 to 2023, where she opened the Happy Medium Books Cafe.
On her drive back to Utah, Pagett decided she wanted to open a smaller, more carbon footprint-friendly bookstore in Utah. (The bookstore repurposes old books and sells them for cheap.)
It only made sense that she would settle down near Pioneer Park.
Clint Martin, one of the store’s customers, lives in the Marmalade district and usually bikes to the neighborhood. While checking in on the 400 South bike lane, he discovered Pagett’s storefront.
“The main challenge in that area is it’s kind of the part of Salt Lake that a lot of people drive through, not necessarily drive to,” Martin said. “I think folks like Annie are trying to change that, make it a bit more of a destination.”
Curation is key
Pagett has all the traits of a certified bibliophile, full of excitement and bright eyes as she talks about the books in the store.
The store’s book selection is precisely curated. Pagett was born in Puerto Rico, but her family roots come from Spain and Italy, which helps her select books to sell at her store.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Plum Bun, printed and distributed by Quite Literally Books, a woman-owned independent press, sits on a table inside 1974 Bookstore SLC in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026.
“My passion is underrepresented authors and indie presses,” she said. For example, she carries Quite Literally Books, a woman-owned, indie press that brings back forgotten bestsellers written by American women.
The store also specializes in carrying pocketbooks from the 1960s to 1980s (which are going extinct) and has a dedicated collection of United Kingdom versions of books.
About 70% of the books in the store are recommendations from customers, Pagett said. There is a notebook on the checkout desk where customers can list their recommendations.
But it’s their political science section that garners the most attention.
“We sell out like crazy,” Pagett said.
The display next to the front door is full of books for Black History Month. In the shop’s window, books like “Be a Revolution” by Ijeoma Oluo and “An Indigenous People’s History of the United States” by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz greet people.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Books sit on shelves inside 1974 Bookstore SLC in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026.
Kyle Holland, another customer, originally met Pagett when the store was a book cart that she parked at The Rose Establishment or farmer’s market, and agrees that Pagett’s selection is “quite curated.”
“Annie knows her stock and her books so well that she can kind of really cover a little bit of everything in such a small space with currently limited inventory,” Holland said.
All books at 1974 Bookstore cost $25 or under.
“For me, it’s not about making money, it’s about having the books go out,” Pagett said. “For me, when somebody picks a book, and I can just see their eyes lit up [with] excitement, wanting to read that book, that is what makes everything worthwhile for me, because I was the same way,” Pagett said.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Books produced overseas, with only limited availability for purchase in the United States, sit on a table at 1974 Bookstore SLC in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026.