I have a confession to make...

by michele 18. March 2014 08:48

I am a terrible procrastinator!

It is over four months since our 40th anniversary and I still haven't written about it. Oh I have tweeted & facebook about it  but they seem like a something quick and without thought.

Oh what a party!! The sun was shining that day both inside and out. The shop was filled with balloons, streamers, bunting up outside, three large cakes and our window filled with 42 raffle prizes. We have wonderful long term realtionships with our suppliers and they were all extremely generous with gifts. We were literally giving away presents all day long. Our foriegn magazine supplier, LPMI, gave us over 100 large boxes of truffles and our main magazine suppliergave us BOXES of magazines to give away. We had chips, candy bars, T-shirts, pins, noise makers for kids, playing cards, umrellas, books, travel mugs, lunch bags, dvd's, stickers and on and on.

Live music always brings a fully charged energy to a gathering and thanks to Mixtape Magazine there were two different acoustic musicians and then a band, Liars on Fire that closed out the party although we didn't want them to stop playing. They obliged us as they were having such fun too!

The party was even outside where The Food Wolf food truck was serving up delicious fare. It was such a success that the Food Wolf will be back in our parking lot each week once the season is up and cooking!

The customers... oh our wonderful customers. We were packed in here, there was laughter, smiles, joy and to sound rather cliche there was a lot of love flyng around in the shop. It was so wonderful to give back to all the really loyal people who choose to come here.

I am also very apprectiative of the media that decided this was a story worth mentioning. CKDU took care of us, CBC has us on the radio, Halifax magazine had us featured in their shopping blog and CTV spent over an hour filming for their evening news.

We were certainly on a high for weeks afterwards from both a job well done and such fantastic energyon the day. My favourite comment summed it all up....."I always feel so welcome, when I left I was walking on air."

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A cultural shift...

by michele 10. April 2013 10:39

Where will we end up?

About 8 months ago there was a distinct shift in my business. I feared it was the effect of the internet on the magazine business. In years pervious I had seen other shifts such as “I saw it on the web, do you have a copy?”The next shift was when they stopped asking that question. Another, has been niche titles using a different business model to get their magazine on the newsstand. Then there was the media blowing things out of proportion with “the death of print” stories. We have also seen the rise and and slow descent in certain categories depending on what's happening in the world. For example, after 911 our house and decorating section took off as people cocooned.

Back in September I felt isolated and I have to admit fear crept in. I began to emerge from my shell when I started asking people in other businesses how things were going. What I heard was they too saw a shift. I have been comforted in learning that it was not magazines alone that have been affected. Just last week I read in Road and Track that the greatest impact of 16 year olds having their drivers license (46% in 1978, 31% in 2008) was the internet. The rites of passage to independence use to include getting a car now it's owning a phone that connects you to everything 24hours a day. Today in New York magazine there was an article stating that fewer people are viewing art “in its natural habitat.”

It doesn't matter what the business or service is we are all being affected by the internet. We are in the middle of a cultural shift and it is taking on momentum. For me it is a lament for the loss of adventure, anticipation, and at times, quality. Everything is so immediate, that time is not taken to work toward, look forward to , wait longingly for something one might desire. Now, it is I want it, I have it , what's next. Will we savour things, treasure a stolen moment, or enjoy the adventure of the journey?

I have joked that the digital natives will one day not have their eyes peeled to their phones, will discover they are in front of the store and decide to step in. There they will find something totally new. They will tell their friends “Check this new thing out, you can flip the pages, it feels really good, hey, it even smells neat, it doesn't blink or flash, I can come back to it over and over again. I like magazines. ”

I am hopeful. After my 15 year old plays x-box with his buddy in a different town, he still enjoys his book later in the evening.

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What makes a great cover?

by michele 4. May 2012 11:32

Well, in my opinion anyway: 

Buddhadharma is on my path to the front cash and I would often be arrested by it's cover.  The simplicity of it is beautiful. The closeup and sharpness of the photograph is enhanced by the golden glow. The text on the cover completely encapsulates the image. We certainly know that it is an anniversary that Maisonneuve is celebrating!! The 10 is wonderfully bold with a clever use of their logo. I have always wondered who the character is that they use. I turned to the masthead and there it is: They refer to him as the "Maisy guy" though he symbolizes Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the founder of Montreal. A big congratulations to you Maisonneuve, a feisty, independent magazine. Last Tues Foreign Policy arrived. Again the simplicity grabs you as it is so startling both in the strongly worded text and the striking image of the eyes staring at you. Garden design has lot more text on its cover but the main "Perfect Courtyard supports the photo. The flames jump off the page as though they are alive and dancing in front of you. 

 

  

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It's that time of year

by michele 31. May 2011 06:50

For another Top Ten List!

It has been 4 years running that People and New Yorker have remained in the top two spots. I love what the selection of top ten domestic titles says about the variety of customers that come through our doors. We always maintain that we have something for everyone. Halifax Magazine has moved up the ranks to knock Dwell off the list. Go Halifax!

For the imports, there is no doubt that Country Living UK is #1. It is the one title that our regular customers wait with bated breath for and can't help but ask "When will it arrive?" It also far ahead of the number 2 spot by almost double the copies sold.

Import Supplier
Domestic Suppler
Country Living UK
New Yorker
Gramaphone
People Weekly
Shambala Sun
Economist
New Scientist
Vanity Fair
Uncut
Hello
Voque UK
MacLeans
London Review of Books
Time
BBC Top Gear
Halifax Magazine
BBC Music
National Enquirer
Mojo
US Weekly

 

Further to my last post on how kind our customers are, we've been touched yet again by more thoughtfulness. One customer made sure he came in before he moved away to say " I officially wanted to say thank-you for being so gracious." Another dropped off a sweet card plus some yummy chocolates because she appreciated the phone calls letting her know her publication arrived. How lucky we are to have so many great customers.

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The Promise of Spring

by michele 23. March 2011 14:48

Is in the air

We sure can see each season's pending arrival even before it is truly here. Our baseball & gardening sections are bursting with abundance. Magazines have fresh greens and bright colours. Our cooking magazines are heralding spring dishes and Bon Appetit proclaims "Spring Finally! 33 Market Fresh Ideas" Of course with Spring comes cleaning but I think most people really like the act of airing out their homes and the work that accompanies that. I certainly do. Real Simple would like to help us make the job easier with their "Spring Cleaning Shortcuts." V magazine arrived with covers that really remind me of Easter colours ( even though the subject isn't exactly sweetness and innocence!)

Bring on Spring.

 

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What a great week

by michele 18. February 2011 07:55

Lots of great new issues

I love Tuesdays, which we call Magazine Day. It is our largest shipment day so it is always interesting to see if anything intriques us on the covers while we are trying to process the magazines. It can get quite distracting at times. With teasers like "Google, Is the coolest company already over the hill?"- Canadian Business; " 1 Million Workers, 90 Million iPhones, 17 Suicides...Should you care?" - Wired and " Just Food, How to fix our food system" - Alternatives, I was indeed intriqued. Plus there was " Print me a Stradivarius, The manufacturing technology that will change the world" - The Economist and Why machines will never beat the human mind" - The Atlantic. Now it is just a matter of figuring out when I am going to read them! ( I just linked the magazines and strangely the first three were previous issues that were still listed as current issues on their websites. Nice to think that newsstands have the magazines available first!)

 I am also very proud to let you know that we received the Bronze Award for Small Business of the Year at the Halifax Business Awards. The Chamber of Commerce put on a special evening

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Print World 2010

by michele 24. November 2010 08:06

and my world...

 I was just at a large trade show in Toronto over the weekend called Print World 2010. I really do enjoy trying to learn about various aspects of the magazine and newspaper industry. Needless to say printers are a big part of it, on the flip side periodicals (5%) and papers (2%) are a small portion of their overall industry. That being said, one of the printers to speak at one seminar was Transcontinental. They are the fourth largest printer in North America and is Canada's leading publisher of consumer magazines and when they said that they believe in print and that they have invested a billion dollars on improved technology that makes my day! Bring on those magazines...

 Also part of my world is my manager Angela Carlsen, photographer. I just want to pass on something from her 

Images on first page are on 16x20 paper, hand-printed by yours truly in a darkroom. That's right,  these prints are old school. They are all on sale for the low price of $50, which is 1/3 of the original $150 price. The first 20 sold come packaged with a mat. All are signed.

Plus, I have just added some digital prints to the mix. These images are of buildings that no longer exist. They are digital prints on 13x19 paper and are also selling for $50 a piece. Mats are available while supplies last.

http://angelacarlsenearlyworkssale.weebly.com/
--

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A surprise repeat performance

by michele 22. October 2010 04:43

But with different magazines this time.

 

 

I think it is rather interesting that  magazines covers rarely mirror each other (mind you, womens fashion covers are rather formula driven so they do look very similar!) . Yet here in the span of four weeks it has happened twice.  In the case of these two covers, the grey mastheads , same words in bold white, similar placement  and dark backgrounds are so similar you have to wonder how that can happen, especially when they arrive on the newsstand the same day. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall of the art director and editors office after the magazines had hit the stands.

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What's in a name?

by michele 29. April 2010 04:30

How about $175.00!

I have previously been asked what is our most expensive magazine. It used to be $125.00 but about three weeks ago, Bloom arrived ( we have 2 of only 6000 published) and it was $169.00! Yesterday though, Box arrived and it is $175.00. So there you have it, our most expensive magazine.

Our staff are great! And interesting and doing their own thing. Recently Ryan was invited to submit a film of his for the 10th anniversary of the Chicago Anarchist FilmFestival. Not only was  'Danger Dead End 5' accepted but it will be the opening film of the festival's Friday evening theme of "unembedded" films. This means the filmmakers have not been officially sanctioned by the governments involved. "Embedded" journalists are attached to invading or occupying armies. Their purpose is of course to reflect the official line. The scheduled films are activist documentaries or comments on heavy handed government activity that has not been properly covered by the popular media.  

 Congrats Ryan.

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Magazines

Back to School

by michele 8. September 2009 05:35

And back to work...

I felt like I was in and out of the store for the month of August grabbing days off here and there. Several of the staff took well deserved holidays and thankfully the weather held for them.

There is something about the day after Labour Day weekend, psychologically it seems to be the herald of fall, when it is time to pull up the boot straps and get back to work. Mind you maybe that is just me needing to get back to work! The university students are out in force all around our area, doing their frosh week fundraiser for Cystic Fibrosis. As the shop door opens you can hear them hooting and hollering and having fun all for a good cause. In this neighbourhood you definitely know it is back to school when that happens.

Just last week the magazine shipments seem to get back on track for fall as well.  We have been receiving smaller shipments and I would say it wasn't just because it was summer as one of my suppliers told me that over 300 magazines have stopped publishing. Over the summer our main supplier has been bringing us around 2200 magazines each Tuesday and then boom, right back up to 3000 magazines. We have already had the big fall fashion issues and tomorrow the October issue of Vanity Fair arrives.

Welcome to the next season and the next routine

  

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About the author

I was born in Yarmouth and grew up in Chester. I have lived on a sailboat, travelled to Zimbabwe, and lived in England where I worked in a fabulous country house hotel. While in England I met Stephen and then brought him home to Nova Scotia. Now I am a wife, mother of two great kids, and a businesswoman. Life is good.