They have lots in common!

The other day I met up with the father of my daughters friend. While he was waiting for me to arrive he was happily spending time reading a book. When I came up to his side, he said " Books are dead". Print that is; in his hand was a Sony Reader. I hope I masked the distress that flooded through me! I replied that I didn't believe that to be the case. He went on to say that his wife swore she would never read a book unless it was print. She did up trying the Sony Reader and read a whole novel in a weekend. I was given the analogy of rugs, brooms and vaccums. Can you picture in your minds eye the woven cane rug beaters? How each spring the carpets and rugs would be taken outside and given a beating. Brooms were used to tidy up and then along came vaccum cleaner sales men traipsing from door to door selling the new fangled gizmo to make your life easier. The father said how it took a few years to make the vaccum commonplace but where would we be without them today. Soon enough he believes that The Reader, Kindle, and others like them will replace shopping for and reading a print edition. My answer back is that most of us may have a vaccum cleaner but we all still have a broom. And some of us even still beat out the rugs in Spring. Print Dead? I don't think so.

And away they go...

No, just kidding they aren't leaving, but they are forging ahead with their own passions. Angela  ( Her Blog and website )  has a show this summer at the View Point Gallery on Barrington St. It gets a mention in the Summer issue of Canadian Art , which will probably arrive in June at the shop.

Leah has started installing our windows for several months now. We entered a country wide contest for two displays. I get to happily tell you she won first prize for both windows. Approximately 25 stores from across the country joined in the competition. Well done Leah. The first window was for Wallpaper magazine where she literally created wallpaper from the masthead. Then she turned the window into a setting for Decanter magazine. Most recently she created a universe for a science window. It looks brilliant.

 Caitlin one of our former staff is on her way to Toronto to work in Theatre. She graduated from the Dal program while working with us. Back in Mayof 08 she wrote the play Living my Life in Circles which got her a review stating " Pillsworth off to good start with new production by Metamorphic". So we wish her well on yet another new start. Break a leg Caitlin.

I just spent a wonderfully relaxing month in Australia staying with my husbands family in Newcastle, the farm in Guyra and with friends in Tasmania. Needless to say I did check out the newsstands of which there are many. Lots of the towns still have all their shops lining the main street. They have canopies that reach out from the side of the buildings allowing you to stroll protected from the sun. Some of the smaller towns will even have two newsstands. They are quite different from ours, as they are more a stationary and general goods shop with magazines added to the mix. Boy you should see the size of the Sydney Morning Herald it is huge, the dimensions must be nearly 2 ft by 3ft opened. I have to ask myself if I am exaggerating?? I am going to have to give a quick email to my parents in law to ask them to measure it....

 I also checked out the North American titles to see what their "import" retail prices were like.

                                   Here             There

Dance magazine          $4.99           $13.00

Grafik                         $25.50         $33.90

Adbusters                     $8.95           $9.95

Wired                          $5.99           $11.95

Yoga Journal                $6.99           $11.95

Collectible Automobile   $11.95         $14.95

Not too surprising really considering how far they have to go. Mind you the various differences don't make alot of sense particularily when you look at Adbusters with just $1 difference and then Dance with $8.00. 

The staff did a great job while I was away, as I had every confidence they would. I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of "must attend to" notes on my desk.  

Same story seven years later!

 I was doing some office reorganisation when I came across the following: Publisher's Niche Titles May Weather Recession Best  dated Dec 17 2001. The article goes on to say that "Enthusiasts publications may not be recession-proof but they seem to weather economic storms better than the average mainstream monthly." Here we are again this time in a worse economic situation. Niche titles will still play an important roll in the magazine industry but we will see more magazines close up shop. The niche title field will narrow so that instead of 5 different magazines on a niche subject there will now be 2-4. Which we see as a bonus because it will be easier to see the titles on the shelf!! We are fairly optimistic about the year ahead. For many people magazines are a pleasure and a treat. They are fairly easy to purchase when they are being careful about their pennies.

And what a brutal month it was!

It all started with an email from a friend re an NYTimes article on the death of PC Magazine's print edition. Well you know those "related post" tabs?? I got carried away following lots of paths to more magazines that were either dead or on their way out. Much if it comes down to diminished ads sales. Thankfully we still have thousands of other titles!!