CHUBBUCK — Come late spring, Deseret Book will be in a new location at the Pine Ridge Mall.

    The LDS retailer will move to the main entrance of the mall between J.C. Penney and C-A-L Ranch Store, taking up four of the empty retail spaces there.

    “The location of the store will be much more conducive to where the traffic is,” said Adam Nelson, special projects manager for Deseret Book.

    Easy access to the store was recently cut off when Sears closed. However, mall representatives say that they are engaged in preliminary negotiations for the two spaces Deseret Book will be vacating, as well as the old Sears location.

“As soon as Sears closed, that whole wing of the mall got blocked off,” Nelson said. “People are parking there (at the main entrance) anyway and walking right past that space to get where we are now. Essentially, you are going to be able to just walk in the door and Deseret Book will be on the right-hand side.”

    Over the coming months, contractors will knock down the walls that separate four existing retail spaces and combine them into one 7,000 square-foot store. The space Deseret Book will be retrofitting was formerly a dental office, a jewelry store, Price Real Estate and the Pepsi Zone vending machine area.

    While the square footage won’t be noticeably different, the store’s design and offerings will be. It will be the first Deseret Book store in Idaho to use a new lifestyle-based open layout design that the retailer is rolling out nationwide.

    “It can’t come soon enough,” said store manager Chris Nelson. “We are so excited.”

    The decor colors will be lighter, the store will have an exposed ceiling and the layout will be more open and airy.  

    “We let the products dictate the area that they are being sold in,” said Jeff Bartmess, Deseret Book’s director of regional retail sales for the northwest region. “For example, the cookbooks, food, rolls, etc. are going to be in an area that looks like a high-end kitchen.”

    Another addition to the new store will be pre-packaged foods, juices and frozen rolls. They will continue to sell Florence Chocolates.

    Access to the Distribution Center, an often separate part of the store that sells LDS religious materials as well as the church’s sacred temple garments, will be more open and accessible, according to planners.

    “The distribution center will still have its own area but will have a much more clean transition to walk into the store as well,” Bartmess said.

    Bartmess and Nelson do not have a firm date for the transition to the new location but are anticipating that the store will be closed for about three days in late spring to accommodate the move.

    “Projections will become clearer in the coming weeks,” Bartmess said.

    Deseret Book has been in the mall since it opened in the 1980s. Nelson has worked as the store’s manager for 15 years, getting a front row seat to the changes that have come to the Pine Ridge Mall.

    “Despite what people might say, the new mall management has been wonderful to us,” Nelson said. “There is a big difference with the new (mall) owners.”

    Deseret Book is a wholly owned subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation, the holding company for business firms owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Deseret Book is a profit-making Utah corporation that sells items tailored toward the mission of the LDS church.

    According to the Association of Religious Data, about 77 percent of Bannock County locals are members of the LDS church.

    “However, there’s plenty for everyone,” Bartmess said. “All the things we are selling are about bringing light and truth into people’s lives. And that’s not exclusive to the LDS people.”