Convenience store exec says magazines sections are shrinking because they're too much trouble

Magazine sections at convenience stores are shrinking and one of the reasons is that stocking and shelving magazines is too labour intensive, according to Peter Chappell, senior category manager for Mac's. He told a Toronto meeting last week of the Periodical and Book Association of America (PBAA) that magazine sales represent just one per cent of sales at Canadian convenience stores, while

U.S. Q1 newsstand sales reported to be down almost 6% from Q1 last year

First quarter 2011 newsstand sales in the U.S. were down almost 6 per cent from the same period a year earlier, according to research from newsstand research and data company MagNet that was reported by Folio:. 
The  researchers said they expected that the second quarter will be better, boosted by the royal wedding and bin Laden's death. It estimates that the royal wedding coverage for People

Not one, not two, but three covers on Toronto Life June

 Newsstands that carry Toronto Life will be receiving one of three covers of the June issue, which goes on sale May 12. An equal number of copies of the three different covers will be shipped at random. This is a first for the magazine. The cover subjects are
Malin Akerman (homegrown Holywood "it girl") -- shot by George Pimentel
Aishwarya Rai (a nod to Toronto's hosting of the Indian Film

Why it's hard to find a good magazine newsstand

Readers are finding outlets for single magazine copies fewer and farther between in North America, according to a story in Advertising Age. Quoting data from the Magazine Information Network, the story says that 18,000 retail outlets for magazines disappeared in North America between December 2007 and now -- a decline of 11.3%. Although subscriptions comprise the vast majority of most magazines'

New European magazine kiosks will feature preview touch screens

Pushing back against the erosion of single copy magazine sales and the closing of many newsstands in Europe, a leading shopping mall owner will be launching a new kind of  sales outlet, according to a story from  lesaffaires.com. Unibail-Rodamco, which owns a hundred shopping malls in Europe and 35 in France, is partnering wtih Mediakiosq, a company which controls some 800 newsstands in France.

Radical and indy magazines fight for newsstand survival in Britain

Access to conventional newsstands in Great Britain are increasingly being put beyond the reach of independent, radical and progressive magazines, according to an article in the Guardian. Magazines and papers distributed by the Independent News Collective (Ink) are being crowded out by more mainstream titles who can afford to pay premiums for space."Newsagents take what Smiths [News] tells them is

Virtual newsstand lets you swipe a magazine off a coffee table

I will concede that the intention is good (ease for the customer), but there is something weird and off-putting about this concept for a new form of virtual newsstand -- a table top from which you can drag participating titles onto the e-reader of your choice. The video is from eMedia Vitals and the demonstration was at the SXSW Music and Media Conference.

Retail print and digital editions will complement each other, says Condé Nast CEO

It's not at all surprising that, writing for the February newsletter of the International Periodical Distributors Association that the head of Condé Nast praises retail as being responsible for the powerful bond that readers form with magazines. What is a little more surprising is that CEO Charles Townsend makes a strong case for digital magazines -- the antithesis of going to the store and

Yet another independent magazine outlet -- Duthie's Books -- to close next month

Yet another independent book and magazine store is closing, this time Duthie's Books in the Kitsilano district of Vancouver. It is the last store in what was an 8-store chain, but the Duthie family is packing it in at their 4th Avenue location at the end of February, after 53 years in business. A press release on its website said the following, in part:
Everybody knows that independent bookstores

Hub Cigar to observe 100 years of serving up magazines during 2010

Hub Cigar in Edmonton, one of western Canada's oldest independent newsstands, is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2010. According to a story on CBC.ca, it opened on 10345 Whyte Avenue when Sir Wilfrid Laurier was prime minister and today stocks not only 150 different types of cigars, but thousands of magazines and newspapers from around the world.After the past couple of years in which

Mapping magazine stores

Here's a good rainy day project. The magCulture blog has published a Google map of the best magazine stores in London.View London magazine stores in a larger mapMaybe a project for the next couple of months would be to do a Canada-wide map of the best magazine stores in each city. You send me the stores and their addresses, I'll compile the map.

Wal-Mart, moving magazines to back of store, also reducing space and titles

Not only is Wal-Mart moving magazines to the back of its stores, its "Project Impact" remodeling program will actually decrease the space devoted to magazines and reduce the number of authorized titles, based on profitability and sales. According to a story in Audience Development, the major magazine retailer is reducing mainline space by 20 feet -- about half of what it was previously -- which

Pages Books & Magazines of Toronto to close August 1

One of Canada's best known magazine and book stores, Pages on Queen Street West , is closing August 1, after 30 years, with no suggestion that it will locate elsewhere, according to a story in NOW magazine.For many arts and culture titles, this is a major blow because the store has been very supportive of indy publishing; for people in Toronto and visitors to the city, it is the go-to place for

Blame Gisele!? Or blame the distributors?!

The New York Observer reports that Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen's recent cover shots in both Vanity Fair (May) and Harper's Bazaar (April) drew the lowest single copy sales in recent times.What the story downplayed was the fact that they both appeared during a time of a major blowup in the distribution business when one key player (Anderson News, representing 25% of the business) closed