[citation needed] Seagull Book & Tape was founded in 1987 by V. Lewis Kofford, the owner of LDS publisher Covenant Communications.

[9] Seagull sold a variety of media types, including books, audio tapes, CDs, videos, and computer software.

[13] From 1990 to 1992, Lewis brought in his son Greg Kofford, an MIT graduate and Wall Street investor, as Seagull's president and CEO.

[29] Seagull Book's first store was a 6,000 square foot (560 m2) retail space on Redwood Road in Salt Lake City.

Deseret Book claimed Seagull wasn't properly honoring its merchandising programs[9][33] or adequately utilizing promotional materials,[29] which it requires of all its vendors.

[35] This announcement was "a complete surprise to Seagull management"[35] who saw this as "a deliberate attack on its presence in the LDS market"[20] and assumed "discount prices are the reason.

[13] In recent years Deseret Book had acquired other major competitors, including Bookcraft, Excel Entertainment Group, and LDS Living magazine.

[13][34][36][37] The retailers were already successfully filling two different niches in the LDS market,[20] and rather than transform into Deseret Book, Seagull would act as its discount chain.

The California gull is the Utah state bird and appears in the LDS Church's Seagull Monument in Salt Lake City.