Backyard Birds
Address: 2698 Highland Drive
Telephone: 801-467-7222
Website: facebook.com/backyardbirdsslc
District: Sugar House
“If I were to describe the store simply, we’re here to bring some joy to people,” says Trace Sweeten, co-owner of Backyard Birds along with business partner Rob Blackhurst. Trace’s simple reflection captures the heart of Backyard Birds, a small shop in Sugar House that has grown into a beloved haven for bird lovers, gardeners, and anyone in search of something charming and unexpected.
Backyard Birds opened its doors in 1998, but the story begins long before that, with Trace growing up between Salt Lake City and Midway, splitting his childhood between city streets and wide-open country. His father, a dentist who had been raised on a dirt farm in Idaho, kept horses on their Midway property, which meant Trace grew up surrounded by animals, fresh air, and the rhythms of rural life. Weekends were often spent riding, exploring, and soaking in the quiet beauty of both landscapes. “I was lucky,” he said. “I grew up in two very different worlds, and both shaped me.”
Trace graduated from high school in 1970, left for his mission to Austria in 1971, and returned in 1973 to continue his studies at the University of Utah. He pursued architecture and design, but with no undergraduate degree available in that field, he earned his bachelor’s in psychology with the intention of eventually teaching at the university level. A delay in graduate school admissions set him on an entirely unexpected path. Told that future psychologists needed to understand business as well as people, he decided to run a business while he waited. He had already discovered he had a talent for creating spaces people loved to be in. As president of his fraternity, he had organized dances that became wildly popular on campus. It gave him an idea. Instead of waiting for graduate school, why not open a dance club?
Trace teamed up with his close friend, Rob Blackhurst, who had grown up primarily in Utah. By coincidence, Rob had also served a mission in Austria, arriving just after Trace had left. Their paths did not cross there, but the shared experience became one of many parallels in their lives. In the early 1980s they opened Frisco Bay on 33rd South, a club that quickly became a local favorite. They expanded to Sugar House and renamed it The Bay, eventually moving into the historic Eagles Building on 4th South, where weekend crowds filled the multi-level space. Tens of thousands of people came through its doors over the years. “People still tell me their parents met at The Bay,” Trace said with a smile. “It makes me realize just how long we were in that world.”
After more than two decades in nightlife, Trace and Rob felt ready for a chapter that would age with them more gently. They closed The Bay around 2001, leased the building for several years, and eventually sold it to Café Molise, who restored it beautifully. “We loved that building,” Trace said. “Seeing it taken care of again felt like the perfect ending.”
What most people do not know is that while they were running dance clubs, Trace and Rob were slowly falling in love with something much quieter - birds. “I pulled out my baby clothes once and noticed how many had birds on them,” Trace said, laughing. “My mother bought them without thinking. I guess the interest was always there.” His ornithology class at the U deepened it. Professor Bailey’s demanding course, filled with fieldwork and memorization, opened his eyes to birds in a new way. It became a lens through which he experienced the world.
Trace and Rob’s hobby took on more shape through their many visits to the Wild Bird Center owned by Owen Hogle. They became close with the Hogle family, spending hours asking questions, learning about seed, feeders, and identification, and discovering just how joyful and absorbing bird feeding could be. Those visits planted a notion, quiet at first but persistent, that one day they might create a place of their own.
Backyard Birds opened in 1998. What began as a single converted service-station bay soon grew into something much larger, expanding through the years as more displays, more seed, and more wonders filled the space. The idea for the shop had already taken root through Trace and Rob’s growing love of bird feeding, but it was a later trip to the Atlanta wholesale markets that broadened their vision. There, they discovered how wide and imaginative the world of birding merchandise could be, and the possibilities helped shape what the store would eventually carry. The shop was intended as a gentle transition from the long nights at The Bay, something they could run as they grew older. But, Trace said, “Businesses are like children. You start them, but they become who they want to be.”
The next chapter arrived when a young man named JB Leonard walked through the door. “I had no idea that birds could bring so much joy into a person’s life. Once you start paying attention, they take you to the most fascinating places.”
JB grew up in northern Utah and graduated from the University of Utah in 1997 with a degree in communications and public relations. His early jobs were in banking, from counting millions of dollars a day in the vault to writing radio commercials for the marketing department. After working briefly at an advertising agency, burnout crept in. “Some of the businesses could not tell me anything fascinating about what they did,” he said with a grin. “I was trying to turn a gas station description into a compelling story.” He needed something new.
While working at a restaurant and considering a move into design, he heard that Backyard Birds might be hiring. He walked in, interviewed, and unknowingly stepped into the place that would shape the next two decades of his life. “I had no idea birds were this interesting,” he said. “No idea at all.”
Back then, Trace and Rob were still alternating days behind the counter while juggling their other business. JB quickly became full-time, and as the store grew, so did his role. He eventually took a short course through the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to deepen his understanding of bird behavior, becoming the person customers relied on for everything from seed blends to feeder strategy. “Each yard is its own puzzle,” he said. “People wonder why their neighbor gets all the birds. Every yard is different.”
When Rob moved to Washington in 2019, JB stepped fully into the role of manager. “I wear many hats,” he said. “HR, marketing, janitor, stock boy, buyer, salesman. I do a little bit of everything, and I like it.”
Walk inside Backyard Birds today and you are greeted by an explosion of color, sound, and playful charm. Feeders and wind chimes hang from the ceiling. Shelves overflow with seed, suet, clocks, puzzles, greeting cards, retro candies, garden art, miniature book-nook kits, solar lanterns, night lights, fairy-garden figurines, locally made items, and handmade contraptions like tabletop basketball hoops and dice rollers. Customers whisper, “I had no idea,” almost the moment they step inside. The store feels like a beautifully illustrated storybook come to life.
While the displays are delightful, the heart of the shop is still birds. There are seed mixes for finches and chickadees, blends for ground-feeding quail and doves, no-mess options that will not germinate, and spicy suet that birds cannot taste but keeps the squirrels away. There are poles with baffles, nectar for hummingbirds, and what JB proudly calls “probably the largest selection of wind chimes in the valley,” each chosen for its melodic tuning.
What customers feel most, though, is joy. Some come in on hard days just to walk around and breathe. Others arrive excited to tell JB about the goldfinches in their yard or the new woodpecker at their suet feeder. Many have passed the shop for years before finally stopping, and almost always they say the same thing: “I never imagined there was this much in here.” JB continues to love coming to work every day, still loves helping a child choose their first bird book, still loves the simple delight of seeing someone discover something unexpected.
As for Trace, he is still very much involved, handling the bookkeeping, legal work, buying trips, and big decisions. He may not be at the register as often, but he remains the thoughtful steward of a place that grew in ways even he could not have imagined. “It is like watching a child grow up,” he said. “You guide it, you nurture it, but then it becomes something all its own.” Trace continues to look around the shop each time he is in and feels grateful every day. “If Backyard Birds brings people even a little happiness, then it has become exactly what it was meant to be.”
